Doucoure and Calvert-Lewin respond to ‘Pirlo’s’ heartfelt Everton message
Everton invited several former players to Goodison Park for their final match at the ground before they move to the Hill Dickinson Stadium.
The Toffees said goodbye to the Grand Old Lady on Sunday with a 2-0 win over Southampton, as the Premier League’s bottom side provided a fittingly passive opposition to David Moyes‘ fired-up team.
Everton were 1-0 up inside six minutes through Iliman Ndiaye, who added a second in first-half stoppage time with a fine individual finish which put the slender possiblity of a Southampton comeback to bed.
As Everton prepare to leave Goodison Park for their newly-named stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock on Liverpool’s waterfront, several members of Moyes’ squad are already confirmed to be on the way out.
Tom Davies ‘cherishes’ Goodison Park in Everton message
Goodison will continue to host Everton matches after the club confirmed their women’s team would call the Grand Old Lady home next season, but the final men’s match at the ground was a massive occasion.
Tributes have poured in from Everton players past and present, with several of the former in attendance on Sunday to watch Moyes’ side dispatch Southampton with ease and win three points for the last time.
Academy graduate Tom Davies has a Championship play-off final to concentrate on with Sheffield United in four days’ time, but appeared at Goodison on Sunday and sent an emotional message on Instagram.
In his post (19 May), Davies said: “Goodison Park; what a place. I’ll always cherish the memories I made there. Great to be a part of the final game and to give the Old Lady the send off she deserves!”
Davies’ former team-mates Abdoulaye Doucoure and Dominic Calvert-Lewin both sent responses, and after Doucoure left a pair of ‘heart-eyes’ emojis, Calvert-Lewin said: “What a player, scouse Pirlo”.
Doucoure and Calvert-Lewin to join Davies in Everton exit
Davies left Everton in 2023 after the expiry of his contract, and two years on, Doucoure and Calvert-Lewin are set to finally follow him out the exit door as two of the Toffees’ 13 out of contract players.
Everton fans’ suspicions that Doucoure’s emotional substitution on Sunday would be his last have been proven correct, after the Mali international confirmed his departure on Instagram on Tuesday (20 May).
Calvert-Lewin’s situation is more complex after Football Insider revealed that Everton plan to offer the striker a new contract, but if he is to leave after eight years on Merseyside, a reunion with Davies at Sheffield United could be on the cards.