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This Saturday Everton host their final pre-season game at Hill Dickinson where they face Lille. The French side have appointed Davide Ancelotti, who spent time as Everton’s assistant manager from 2019 to 2021, where he worked alongside his father, Carlo Ancelotti. In recent years many players have played for both sides and there are a lot of connections between the two clubs. Everton kickstart their Premier League campaign next week as they host Crystal Palace and will hope to put the poor form of the end of last season to rest. Lucas Digne Digne signed his first professional contract at Lille and made his debut during the 2011/12 campaign, featuring 18 times before claiming his place in the side the following season, which earned him a move to Paris Saint-Germain. Signed from Barcelona in the summer of 2018, the left back made an instant impact for the Blues as he assisted Dominic Calvert-Lewin in a 3-1 victory over Rotherham United. In his maiden season at the club, Digne won both Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season. Along the way the Frenchman scored goals against Burnley and Manchester United. Digne, who was a mainstay during his time on Merseyside, departed the club in 2022 as he fell out of favour with Rafael Benitez and transferred to Aston Villa. Former Lille winger Anwar El Ghazi joined Everton in the same window and only featured twice. Idrissa Gueye Gueye started his career at Diambars before earning a move to Lille in 2008. It took until 2010 for Gueye to make his debut for Lille’s first team as he made 11 appearances as Les Dogues won Ligue 1. The 36-year-old also started against PSG in the Coupe De France, as Lille won an impressive double. In the 2014/15 season Gueye faced Everton in the Europa League as the Blues picked up four points against Gueye’s Lille. Two seasons later the midfielder would join Ronald Koeman’s Everton from Aston Villa and showed his importance. Gueye scored his first Everton goal in a 2-0 victory over Sunderland and across his first three years at the club he made 108 appearances before departing for PSG. Following three successful years in the French capital, Gueye returned to the Blues and once again was crucial across his four seasons at the club, before departing at the end of the 2025/2026 season. Kevin Mirallas The Belgian forward started his career at Lille and spent four years at Les Dogues as he scored 11 goals in 89 games. During his time with Lille, Mirallas was part of a side who finished third in Ligue 1 and departed for Saint Etiene. It was at Olympiakos where Mirallas started attracting attention, as he spent two successful years in Greece where he won two Super League Greece titles and was top goalscorer with 20 goals in 25 games. In 2012, Mirallas joined Everton for a reported fee of £6 million and scored twice against Leyton Orient. During his first season at the club, the forward scored nine goals including a sublime solo goal against Stoke City, where he ran from his own half to fire past Asmir Begovic. The following season, under Roberto Martinez, Mirallas scored a crucial winner against Aston Villa and a clever finish in the 2-0 victory over David Moyes’s Manchester United. The next two seasons proved to be more difficult as Everton finished 11th in back-to-back seasons. Following a resurgence under Ronald Koeman, Mirallas was eventually loaned to former club Olympiakos and Florentina before departing the club in 2019. Djibril Sidibe The fullback started his career at Troyes as he helped his side gain promotion to Ligue 1 before joining Lille in 2012 as a 19-year-old. During his time at Lille, Sidibe featured in the 2016 Coupe De la Ligue Final against PSG and also featured against Everton in the Europa League. Sidibe moved on to AS Monaco and was a member of the side which won Ligue 1 and reached the semi-final in the UEFA Champions League. Sidibe was named in the Ligue 1 Team of the Season and was a member of the 2018 World Cup squad with France. Sidibe joined Everton on loan in 2019 and provided competition for Seamus Coleman, giving Everton an offensive threat as he made five assists in 28 games. The Frenchman is best known for the incident where he forgot to put his sock on against Crystal Palace. At the age of 34, the fullback is still going strong as he made 8 goal contributions for Toulouse. Amadou Onana Signed in 2022, Onana was an ever-present as he helped Everton avoid relegation for a successive year. The powerful midfielder was all action and box to box, and scored once in a 2-1 home defeat to Southampton. Onana only spent two seasons with the Blues and in his second season for the club, the midfielder missed a penalty against Fulham in the Carabao Cup Quarter-Finals. In the same summer Andre Gomes went the other way as he spent a season-long loan at Lille where he featured 27 times and scored three goals. Gomes joined the Toffees initially on loan from Barcelona, before he joined the club permanently in the summer of 2019. The following October, the Portuguese suffered a serious ankle injury which hampered his spell at Goodison. Following his loan spell at Lille, Gomes returned to Everton and featured as a squad player for Sean Dyche’s side and scored in a 2-1 defeat against Tottenham Hotspur. The midfielder also scored the only goal in a 1-0 FA Cup third round replay against Crystal Palace, before leaving the Blues in the summer of 2024.