Two of football's biggest legends could be among first to play at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium

Two of football's biggest legends could be among first to play at Everton's Hill Dickinson Stadium

Everton have announced a legends game against Roma at Hill Dickinson Stadium but which other stars could play?

Some of the most high-profile former Everton and Roma players who could be potentially invited to take part in a legends match at Hill Dickinson Stadium

With Everton announcing that Hill Dickinson Stadium’s official opening on August 9 will now be a double-header against Roma as a ‘legends game’ following the inaugural first team fixture between David Moyes’ men and their Serie A visitors, speculation has begun over which giants of yesteryear could dust off their boots to take part.

As the old boys’ match was revealed at 5pm on Friday, June 27, former Everton captain Phil Jagielka and Vincent Candela, a stalwart for Roma and the France national team, were the first two names to be confirmed, with the full star-studded line-ups – and special-guest managers for both sides – to be announced in the coming weeks.

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Just who might that be though? Fresh from turning down an offer to return to management at Macclesfield – in what would have been an audacious swoop for the sixth tier newly-promoted National League North club – Wayne Rooney is arguably the most gifted homegrown talent that Everton have ever produced.

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The Croxteth-born star, who bookended his Premier League career with spells with the Blues between 2002-04 and 2017-18, either side of a record-breaking period at Manchester United in which he won all the major honours in club football, got something of a rough ride from home fans when attempting to speak on the pitch following Goodison Park’s final Premier League fixture on May 18, with their chants of: “Manchester is full of s**t,” prompting an equally foul-mouthed response from the former striker, who replied: “I am a f*****g Scouser, by the way.”

While playing in his second spell for Everton on November 29, 2017, against Moyes’ West Ham United of all teams, Rooney who after a 5-1 home drubbing by Atalanta just six days earlier had prompted Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport to lament: “He is a walking monument, it is sad to see him in this condition,” famously scored for the Blues from within his own half at Goodison, completed his hat-trick by sublimely chipping Joe Hart from 59 yards out.

Rooney, who doesn’t turn 40 on October 24, would be a high-profile potential participant but so would a man who is regarded in the eyes of many as Roma’s greatest-ever player, and a man, who in his 49th year, almost matched the former Everton star’s achievement by netting from the halfway line earlier this month.

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An article covering the incident in the Daily Mail stated: “Italy legend Francesco Totti rolled back the years by scoring a jaw-dropping goal from the halfway line during a match - leading to a standing ovation. “Totti, now aged 48, proved he still has the same magic that saw him bag over 300 goals for both club and country as he put on a show on Sunday. Taking part in an amateur game organised by Operazione Nostalgia, Totti received the ball in midfield before controlling with his heel and glancing up at goal. “The thousands of supporters at the Stadio Ennio Tardini (Parma’s home ground) rose to their feet to applaud the audacious effort, seemingly in disbelief at what they had just witnessed.”

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The game finished 7-7 and ironically for Evertonians, the keeper who Totti beat from distance having spotted him off his line, and who the report says: “did not cover himself in glory as he backpedalled slowly and spilled the ball,” was none other than Sebastien Frey, whose heroics in goal for Fiorentina at Goodison Park in 2008 denied David Moyes’ side on a rousing evening at ‘The Grand Old Lady’ as despite dominating proceedings and winning the game 2-0, they failed to take a hatful of opportunities to add to their lead and were knocked out of the UEFA Cup in a penalty shoot-out.

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Rome-born Totti was a one-club man with his home city team during his professional career, and similar to Everton’s Dixie Dean, who holds the record for the most goals with a single English club (383), he has netted the most Serie A goals with a single club (250).

During his career at Roma, Totti was referred to as Er Bimbo de Oro (The Golden Boy), Er Pupone (The Big Baby), L’Ottavo Re di Roma (The Eighth King of Rome), L’Imperatore (The Emperor) and Il Capitano (The Captain) by the Italian sports media while in 2013, the New York Times described him as a “Roman god in his game.”

Last August, after coaching Roma in what was Goodison Park’s last-ever friendly as his side drew 1-1 with Everton, Totti’s former team-mate Daniele De Rossi said: “I really enjoyed it because it was one of the last stadiums I missed to play at when I was a player or a coach.

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“I was so happy to be here to discover this atmosphere. When I saw matches here on television it was easy to recognise the passion of the fans.

“But here from the bench it was unbelievable. I’m so happy for this experience.

“I’m curious to see the new one (stadium) but I always like the old stuff – the old atmosphere, the old stadiums in England, like in Italy. So good luck for the new building and good luck for the season!”

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Other high-profile former Roma stars who could potentially play include the likes of Gabriel Batistuta, Cafu, Aldair, Walter Samuel, Emerson, Antonio Cassano or even Giuseppe Giannini, who is now 60.

In terms of retired players, the likes of Olivier Dacourt, Matteo Ferrari and Maarten Stekelenburg have represented both clubs while from an Everton point of view, this correspondent has compiled two XIs, one in the ages 40-49 bracket and the other 50-59. Here is the team of 40 somethings: Tim Howard, Tony Hibbert, Leighton Baines, Phil Jagielka, Joleon Lescott, Thomas Gravesen, Mikel Arteta, Leon Osman, Steven Pienaar, Tim Cahill, Louis Saha.

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This is the line-up of those in their 50s: Nigel Martyn, Matt Jackson, David Unsworth, Alan Stubbs, David Weir, Lee Carsley, Paul Gascoigne, Andrei Kanchelskis, Anders Limpar, Tony Cottee, Duncan Ferguson.

You could even have a star-studded over 60s team, but while there would be strong claims from 1995 FA Cup-winning trio, Paul Rideout, Barry Horne and captain Dave Watson, who was also part of the 1987 side that lifted the title and was described by Kevin Ratcliffe as his best centre-back partner, you’d be hard pressed to look beyond the illustrious team that secured the European Cup-Winners’ Cup in Rotterdam in 1985.

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