JORDAN PICKFORD has been told he will not be going anywhere in the summer unless Sunderland are offered a “really big price” and that staying on Wearside could be his best option.

David Moyes, the Black Cats boss, feels Pickford should not be leaving if it means playing second fiddle and sitting on the bench in the Premier League.

Moyes believes the 22-year-old has shown he is capable of holding down a first team place at the highest level.

And thinks playing in the Championship for Sunderland would be better for his career and development than joining one of the title chasing teams if he has to play back-up.

The Sunderland boss said: “I think that him being a fan would be a telling factor if the alternative was to go and sit on the bench somewhere else.

“If I was Jordan I wouldn’t do that, I’d want to be playing regularly but again Sunderland hold his contract and Jordan can’t go anywhere unless we decide to let it happen.”

Everton are understood to be preparing a £17m offer for Pickford, although all of the top sides are interested. Moyes, though, insists it will take more than that to temp Sunderland into selling.

Moyes, who has hinted he wants to stay and help the club back up next season, knows Sunderland need to realign their finances and cashing in on Pickford would help his own squad rebuilding.

He said: “Good players and English players have a premium. Wherever Jordan goes it would have to be a really big price. It would not be cheap if anybody wants Jordan Pickford.”

Asked if he thinks Pickford will stay, Moyes said: “At the moment, I really wouldn’t know. Obviously it’s up to the club. If Jordan was to go elsewhere and not be the number one that wouldn’t be good for him because that would affect his progress. You can see what he does for us with the saves he makes. He’s been outstanding from day one.”

Pickford was the centre of attention at Hull on Saturday when he made three impressive stops – two of those were excellent in the second half from Lazar Markovic and Abel Hernandez.

Those helped lay the foundations for a Sunderland 2-0 victory and Billy Jones, the full-back who scored the opener, is confident his team-mate is destined for big things.

Jones said: “Jordan’s showed by consistently performing well in this league how good he is. It’s been great to play with him and to see that. When I first signed for the club I knew about Jordan. Everyone talked about him and what a great prospect he was.

“To be honest I don’t even look at him as a young lad within the dressing room. He’s there speaking before games and shouting out orders, doing what you’d expect from a senior player. That’s impressed me as well.

“For a supposedly young player he’s had a lot of loans and played a lot of football and he’s got that experience in dressing rooms that you need. I class him as one of our leaders and he will be a great leader one day, maybe even a captain. He shows that.

“I think he has that confidence in his ability. I think he knows how good he is and how good he can be. As a prospect for the future you can see he’s working hard on the training ground. He just wants to keep improving as well.”

Pickford was not the only academy graduate on show at Hull. Moyes handed George Honeyman a second Premier League start in the No 10 role behind Jermain Defoe.

Honeyman, whose current deal expires this summer, was full of energy and sent over the corner for the opening goal, and if he starts against Swansea it will trigger a new contract.

“There is something in his contract and it automatically means we retain him,” said Moyes. “Of course we want to keep him. We don’t want to let any of our young players to go.

“We want to build and we’ve got a few good young players. Nobody will really look at it until we get players like Duncan Watmore back, Paddy McNair coming in, even George Honeyman, then you’ll start to see there really is a nucleus of four or five good young players here and hopefully they will all go the journey and stay with us and improve.”

Moyes also felt Honeyman impressed on Humberside. He said: “I thought he played really well. I’ve got to say his level in training has lifted over the last two or three weeks. He’s been on the verge.”