Everton and England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford has named the toughest striker he's ever come up against.

Pickford is currently enjoying a fruitful start to the new season with the Toffees, keeping six clean sheets across all competitions thus far. While the Merseysiders are unlikely to qualify for the Champions League, the shot-stopper will certainly harbour hopes of qualifying for European competition of some kind as David Moyes' well-oiled outfit continue to improve.

Despite his impressive exploits for England at major tournaments, Pickford is yet to play at the very highest level for his club, meaning he's only come up against the continent's best footballers on a handful of occasions.

Regardless, the number one has still faced off against the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Kylian Mbappe throughout his career for the Three Lions. None of these aforementioned three was cited by the goalkeeper himself as the best he's ever faced.

Jordan Pickford Names the Toughest Striker He's Played Against

Speaking to Everton's official YouTube Channel back in 2024, Pickford was asked who he feels is the toughest player he's ever played against. In typically loyal fashion, the ex-Sunderland man said Harry Kane.

“Toughest opponent I've faced?" he pondered.

"It’s hard as a goalkeeper, that. As a finisher, I’d say Harry Kane.”

This claim was made two years before Pickford took on Messi, although it was also two years prior to Kane winning the prestigious Ballon d'Or award.

The England striker has scored 543 goals in 661 career games for club and country, so it's not a huge surprise that Pickford selected the ridiculously prolific goalscorer, particularly from his perspective as a goalkeeper.

The shot-stopper, who has over 90 caps for his country, has trained with Kane for years at St. George's Park, and will be well aware of the Bayern Munich forward's quality and prowess.

The number nine also has 16 career goals against Everton, many of which will have come against Pickford, who probably had little chance of saving any of them.

As shown by the table above, Kane hasn't just enjoyed goal-scoring success against the Toffees — his team has often come out on top against them.

Thus, having both conceded and lost to the former Tottenham star throughout his career, it makes sense that the player comes to Pickford's mind in a snapshot interview about the toughest he's ever faced, over some of the other world-class stars he's had much more limited experience with.

Interestingly, there have been reports in recent months that Bayern are eyeing a move for Pickford, so he could soon be playing alongside Kane for both club and country.