According to The Chronicle Live, Everton are admirers of Newcastle United goalkeeper Freddie Woodman, and were they to sign the 22-year-old then Jordan Pickford would have to be worried sick for the first time since joining the club.

What's the word, then?

Well, The Chronicle Live names the Toffees and Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur as liking the 22-year-old, who is currently enjoying a season-long loan spell with Championship club Swansea City.

The report says that the stopper will either need guaranteed first-team football again next season or be in a straight battle with Martin Dubravka for the number one shirt at St James' Park.

The story adds that Woodman's contract at Tyneside is due to run out in 2021 after he refused to sign a new one two years ago when he was told he was third-choice, and that neither party is keen for him to into the final 12 months without some sort of solution.

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Some real competition for Pickford

It;s got to be said that the former Sunderland goalkeeper has had it pretty easy since joining the Toffees in an initial £25m deal in the summer of 2017.

Back then he was competing with Joel Robles and Maarten Stekelenburg for the number one shirt, and neither really looked capable of ousting him on a consistent basis.

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The England international has therefore been a regular number one since for club and country, and started all but two of former manager Marco Silva's 61 matches - two in the League Cup in 2018/19 - in charge of the Merseyside outfit as he remained a firm favourite between the sticks.

That has carried on under Duncan Ferguson and now Carlo Ancelotti, with Stekelenburg replacing summer addition Jonas Lossl on the bench under the Scot and the Italian to suggest that neither back-up is close to pushing the 25-year-old for his spot.

Woodman would be a different proposition altogether though.

He is young and has already shown during his loan spell with Swansea just how promising he is.

The 22-year-old has kept eight clean sheets for Steve Cooper's men as per The Chronicle Live – only Kiko Casilla of Leeds and David Raya of Brentford have kept more – in 26 Championship games, also making 73 saves as per WhoScored.

There will be no room for complacency for Pickford if Everton firm up their interest and get a deal done.

In other Everton news, these Toffees fans want to sign a 24-year-old Premier League star who one supporter believes is "someone to build a midfield around"...