Jordan Pickford battling ‘best in Europe’ as four Everton teammates go head-to-head in vote

It is safe to say that a lot of Everton supporters will be glad to see the back of 2024.

It was another year of frustration for the Toffees, who once again avoided relegation from the Premier League by finishing 15th at the end of the 2023/24 campaign.

The club currently sit in the same position following the start of the new season but pressure appears to be rising for manager Sean Dyche after a miserable five-match winless run that has included a defeat to bottom club Southampton and last weekend's mauling by Manchester United.

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2024 is also set to be the club's final full year Goodison Park, as they prepare to move to their new stadium on Bramley Moore Dock next year. Fans will be praying that move represents a much-needed fresh start as they prepare for a sixth successive season outside the Premier League's top eight.

But before the new year comes around, we need to know who you think should be crowned Everton Fans’ Footballer of the Year for 2024. Abdoulaye Doucoure is the current champion having won the award 12 months ago, while Jordan Pickford is hoping to repeat his win from 2022 to match Dominic Calvert-Lewin's record of two crowns (2020 & 2021).

To cast your vote, simply select your chosen winner and submit your vote using the widget below. To give you a helping hand, we asked the Liverpool Echo's Chris Beesley to pick his nominations...

Jarrad Branthwaite

As Pat Nevin told me this month, Branthwaite is the best young centre-half in European football (ergo, the world). A man mountain who can physically dominate the best strikers in the Premier League, he is also accomplished on the ball and comfortable on the left-hand side of a pairing as he can use both feet.

Manchester United’s penny-pinching chiefs displayed more brass neck than C-3PO when they tried to nab ‘The Carlisle Kaiser’ on the cheap with a brace of derisory offers over the summer but while Jim Ratcliffe and company might not realise the true value of Branthwaite, Evertonians do, and they’ve missed his considerable presence for most of this season so far.

Jordan Pickford

A star for club and country again throughout 2024, it was the brilliance of England’s number one at the Euros that ensured Gareth Southgate’s immensely talented but pedestrian Three Lions side came so close to ending 58 years of hurt, despite the bizarre and baseless agendas peddled by many of Pickford’s haters.

Back at Everton, the goalkeeper has done more than any individual player across recent years to ensure the Blues went into their final season at Goodison Park as a Premier League club.

James Tarkowski

Everton’s defensive rock, the Mancunian hard man hasn’t missed a Premier League game for the Blues since signing from Burnley in the summer of 2022 and with veteran club captain Seamus Coleman often not playing these days, he is usually the team’s leader on the pitch while wearing the armband.

He struck up a solid partnership with Branthwaite last season and as part of a tight triangle with Pickford, they formed the defensive unit for a team that only Arsenal kept more clean sheets than in the Premier League throughout 2023/24.

Iliman Ndiaye

A late entry for his impressive start at Everton late in the calendar year after a summer transfer from Olympique Marseille. In what is mostly a typically workmanlike Sean Dyche side, the Senegal international – who always puts in a shift himself it must be said – has become the Blues’ spark of inspiration and their magic man with his twinkling toes and goals at Leicester City and Ipswich Town so far.

You can vote in both the club and national awards in the widget above or by clicking the link here, and don't forget to let your fellow fans know your thoughts in the comments below...