Mark Travers - the new backup goalkeeper for Jordan Pickford?

More good business by the club for me. Getting an experienced keeper to sign up to be Pickfords understudy must be a hell of a task. Virtually no chance of displacing one of the best keepers in the world.
They’ve got a young ish keeper with prem experience at a decent price. Nicely under the radar. Hope this one goes through.
It feels like the club are slowly moving through the gears and plugging the gaps in the squad. Hopefully a right back/right winger/CM next but a good understudy for Pickford was absolutely essential.

Well unless Pickford is sold this lads going to spend the rest of his Everton career on the bench. Strange decision by travers.

We needed a keeper, so if this happens, it's a good move.

The life of a back up keeper. He will know what he's walking into.

We never know what will have, but although he hasn't suffered much with injuries, Pickford could get injured or even suspended.

Those old enough will remember the shock when the invincible Neville Southall got injured as we were closing if for the league title. Bobby Mimms, who knew his place, stepped in and did okay. Some point to Southall's injury as the reason we missed out, but for me, it was more about us having a wobble and a ridiculous run in by Liverpool. We only missed out by 2 points. One game.

It still hurts. And the less I say about the FA Cup final, the better. Old wounds.

The Bobble is reporting it, so I would expect this will be announced.

Agree Paul, strange, he went out on loan to seek more playing time yet is coming to us to sit behind a guaranteed no. 1.

And at still only 26 he has a long playing career ahead of him as a regular starter if he can find the right club.

I think that the fans are waiting for a statement signing.. possibly Douglas Luiz, or maybe Bakayoko... someone to get the pulse racing

We’ve just signed a French under 21 international for 28m without selling anyone

Just seen the fee could rise to £8m with add-ons which would seem a lot for a back-up keeper. Kepa only cost Arsenal £5m. That all said, he probably won't ever play enough to activate the add-ons.

I would have gone for Carson or Gunn on a free, save money for other positions for someone who is just going to sit on the bench. I like Begovic actually, too late for another year?

Steve, not sure about Carson as he's getting on now, but Gunn would have been my first choice on a free. I was shocked Norwich let him go. I remember his dad being a good keeper too.

I would have liked to have kept Begovic Steve. I was surprised when we let the two keepers go.

That's it Gavin. The add ons will include appearances.

Travers is young for a keeper and will benefit traing alongside Jordon

Also Big Jake and Seamus can help him settle!

Gavin, I grew up watching Norwich with my dad, Brian Gunn was indeed a good keeper.

Not good business for me at all. If, as seems the case, we have a limited transfer budget, this is 4 million wasted in my opinion.

4 million for a goalkeeper not considered good enough for Bournemouth!!? I would have preferred us to keep Virginia.

What’s the point in having highly rated young keepers if they are never given a chance? Yes Travets has premiership experience, but it wasn’t good enough for him to keep the position permanently. Disappointed with this transfer

Fair enough on the player assessment Annika.

But on the transfer budget, we don't know how much there is to spend. The only people who do are TFG, the CEO and accountant's. That will be passed onto the recruitment team so they can prioritise.

If the club. Say we can afford the reported £4m on a position we need, then we must be able to.

Plus Danny we won’t be paying the £4m all on one go. Most likely paid over 2 years

A £1m a year for ffp

I swear if we signed the PSG front line some people would find an issue with it.

Who said he wasn’t good enough for Bournemouth?

Btw they finished above Everton for last few seasons

Has it ever been explained as to why Virginia left? Was it for 1st team football elsewhere or he wasn't offered a contract, improved or not.

Always remember Bryan Gunn made his debut for Norwich against us and we scored 4!

I thought Joao Virginia was good backup and, along with Begovic, I was sorry to see them both leave. On the face of it though, this is a good signing with top flight experience and some years ahead of him.

I could never really understand why Virginia stayed for as long as he did with almost no game time, similarly puzzling why Travers would want to play a distant second fiddle to Pickford. He must have his reasons, maybe it's simply financial.

Ryan @ 16, if he was good enough, why was he constantly out on loan?

If he was good enough, why have Bournemouth just bought another goalkeeper and sold Travers?

Andrew @ 15, Travers would never be considered good enough for PSG, so what’s your point?

He was on loan because Bournemouth had a better number one than him. Maybe Bournemouth think 4m allows them to do other things

Same as Everton have a better number one.

Hes a back up goalkeeper. What’s the issue?

Nick(#18)[ Was it Bryan or Brynn Gunn?

For someone who’s been on loan at Weymouth, Swindon, Stoke and Middlesbrough I think he would find it quite an exciting move to be understudy to Englands number one!

His career total number of league appearances is 131 in twelve years, with his most appearances in one season being 45 for Bournemouth in season 21 / 22. So he’s hardly been a consistent number one wherever he’s been.

For a goalkeeper, you either play, or you don’t, there’s no in-between. Many outfield players can play in a position other than their preferred one, a goalkeeper can’t. Overall I think Travers will be more than happy with this move, and he will get to play a game or two, mainly in the early cup rounds, or if JP is either injured or god forbid, suspended.

This move suggests the transfer budget is probably bigger than some expected. Decent keeper.

I'm just a little suprised that our two first moves have been for a CF and backup GK rather than the priority positions of RW, RB and CM. The players we sign there will go some distance to dictating our success this season and ideally would be given time to settle during pre-season.

Sam [#24] Hopefully you are correct about the budget. I was expecting a GK in on a free (actually I was expecting Begovic to return - and still wouldn't be surprised if Ashley Young reappeared).

I have to agree with many fellow posters, that it seems strange to have paid a fee for basically a bench warmer, when possibly we could have had more stablished names on a free.

Of course, like most things we are never privy to what goes on behind the scenes. Just hope Moyes has had some influence as he has pretty much, though not always, been a good judge of a player's fit, and worth, for Everton Football Club !

Derek - which back up goalkeepers that other teams have signed would you have signed instead?

Ryan, not sure, as I haven't been tracking goalkeepers as it seems a lower priority in terms of what, and who we need to assemble a capable squad for the season ahead !

Ok below is a link for you to see which goalkeepers are out of contract this summer

Which one would you or anyone on here have signed instead

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/transfers/endendevertraege/statistik?plus=0&jahr=2025&ausrichtung=Torwart&spielerposition_id=alle&altersklasse=alle&land_id=0&yt0=Show

I like this idea because I believe we need a keeper good enough to play full-time if necessary, and I'm not sure either Virginia or Bego was in that category.

I just have an uncomfortable feeling that Picks, who has been very fortunate on a couple of reckless challenges in recent years, is due to have his luck run out.

And if he flies into somebody and goes down for six weeks, I think Travers is of a sufficient level of quality to keep Picks' absence from costing us games.

So I'm glad this is happening.

Ryan #29, I've been keeping an eye on that list too, and reading it makes a strong point that there's nobody available we should trust if Pickford goes down.

Sam @24, maybe they are just the ones we've been able to get done so far. As said previously, we needed a keeper. it looks like we've got got.

We can debate and question the logic of releasing Begovic and Virginia, but some of that might have been their own personal career reasons.

They're not here now, so other than question why we let both go, it doesn't affect us now. They don't play for Everton.

It looks as if Travers may do so.

Exactly Mike. But some just think you can buy players just like Football Manager!