Everton have certainly had many great players down the years.
Goodison Park will soon no longer be Everton’s home later this year, with Bramley-Moore Dock having now been built and currently hosting test events.
Fans have built so many great memories going to Goodison.
And any top stars have graced its turf during the Premier League era.
One such player is Leon Osman, who was a cult hero during his time on Merseyside. Osman made 433 appearances of the Toffees, and is a Blue through and through.
He is therefore well placed to select an all-time Everton XI from the Premier League era, and he did just that a couple of years ago.
And his team certainly takes some beating.
Leon Osman’s all-time Everton XI from the Premier League era
Osman picked his best Everton XI of the Premier League era a few years ago when he was at Stockley Park on media duties.
Given the many great players Everton have signed since the Premier League’s inception in 1992, Osman had a difficult task picking all-time XI.
But the team he came out with is pretty good.
In goal, Osman plumped for Neville Southall, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of his generation and won the FWA Footballer of the Year award as a Toffee in 1985.
The back four Osman selected was current Everton club captain Seamus Coleman, Dave Watson, Phil Jagielka and Leighton Baines.
In midfield, Osman chose a three of Gareth Barry – who is the all-time highest appearance-maker in the Premier League – with two number eights in front of him in Tim Cahill and the late Gary Speed.
His front line consisted of Andrei Kanchelskis on the right, Steven Pienaar on the left and Wayne Rooney through the middle.
Osman also offered a substitutes bench, to acknowledge those who narrowly missed out on the XI.
Tim Howard, John Stones, Alan Stubbs, Thomas Gravesen, Mikel Arteta, Duncan Ferguson and Romelu Lukaku were his picks for the bench.
The other current player who’s now in the conversation for an Everton all-time XI spot
Osman’s team is certainly very good, and it’s nice to see Coleman – who is still playing for Everton – make it in at right-back.
But there is perhaps now another player in the current squad who may be knocking on the door to be in people’s Everton all-time XI teams.
And that player is Jordan Pickford.
Pickford is into his eighth season now at Everton after joining the club from Sunderland – and the England number one is widely regarded as one of the Toffees’ best and most important players.
Pickford won Player of the Season for 2023/24, which was his third consecutive award and fourth in total at Everton.
Without his contributions over the last few years, Everton could easily have dropped into the Championship, which would have been disastrous.
Gary Lineker and Joe Hart insisted Pickford was underrated at Everton earlier this season, and he perhaps doesn’t get the credit he really deserves for what he’s done for the club. Certainly, from non-Evertonians.
Southall is a legend and is probably still most people’s pick for the goalkeeper position in their Everton all-time XIs.
But Pickford is heading the right way to be in the conversation. By the end of his career, it’s very possible he’ll have surpassed Southall in many people’s eyes.
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