VITO MANNONE may have penned a new deal this week, but that has not changed Jordan Pickford’s plans to become Sunderland’s number one goalkeeper next season.

Pickford and Mannone travelled to Austria for a nine-day training camp with the rest of the Black Cats squad yesterday as preparations for the new Premier League season are taken to a new level. 

It could be that they are joined out there by former Newcastle defender Davide Santon, who is angling for a return to the North-East from Inter Milan and Sunderland are keen to strike a £3m deal.

Earlier this week Sam Allardyce confirmed the decision to hand Mannone a new contract until 2018, and the two shot-stoppers are set for an intriguing battle for the first team shirt next season.

Pickford, an England Under-21 international, is extremely highly-rated by Allardyce and is being challenged to prove he deserves to hold down a first team shirt at the age of 22.

And the young man from Washington is desperate to make the most of the opportunity in the Premier League; a division he made two appearances in last season after numerous loans spells at a lower league level.

“It’s massive that we stayed up for me as a fan,” said Pickford, who was between the posts on the final game of last season at Watford.

“As a Sunderland lad I am buzzing we stayed up. I have played in the Championship and it is a hard league to be in, it is a slog, as a club it’s massive to be in the Premier League again.

“It’s more nerve racking being on the bench during all the big matches we have had. We still needed to focus on the last game at Watford and we did that.”

Pickford was handed his top-flight debut by Allardyce after Christmas in a 5-1 defeat at Tottenham when he was actually Sunderland’s best player. He did not appear again until the final day trip to Vicarage Road.

But Costel Pantilimon’s departure has left Mannone, who only signed a new two-year deal this week, competing with Pickford to be Allardyce’s No 1 for the new season.

Pickford recently said: “I have a big chance next season. I am ready to make that step to playing in the side. But it’s up to the gaffer who he calls on.

"What I have to do is keep working hard in training and try to show what I am about. If the manager picks me, he picks me. That will be his decision. It will be about being patient, and making sure I’m ready for that step whenever it comes.

“I have played a couple of times in the Premier League and felt like I did OK. I am confident in my ability anyway and enjoyed it on that stage.

“The gaffer’s words are 'if you’re good enough, you’re old enough'. I have played a lot of games even though I am young, people forget I spent some time in the lower leagues on loan. I know I am ready.”

Allardyce has so far struggled to add to his squad, although it has emerged that Borussia Dortmund defender Nevan Subotic was in his sights even if the Serbian is understood to have held talks with Middlesbrough over an £8m deal.

Santon, though, is looking likely to join. The left-back, who can play centrally or on the right, has been the subject of an offer from Wearside and Inter are prepared to let him go. 

The Sunderland manager, meanwhile, remains high in the Football Association's thinking for the England job following Roy Hodgson's resignation.

Allardyce is understood to have already been sounded out about the role even though it was more to see if he would like to be considered along with Harry Redknapp and Arsene Wenger. There are others the FA are considering too.

It has been claimed Allardyce's contract at the Stadium of Light, which runs out next year anyway, has a clause allowing him to leave to manage his country, although the Wearside outfit have not commented on that.