Fabio Cannavaro was certainly a magnificent footballer, an uncompromising centre-half who memorably captained Italy to the World Cup in 2006 and won the Ballon d'Or that same year.
But beyond appreciation and nostalgia for Cannavaro the player, there seems to be no logical reason why Everton would wish to interview the Italian for their vacant manager position.
Yet apparently the Toffees have interviewed him as they cast the net far and wide to find a replacement for the sacked Rafael Benitez.
Fabio Cannavaro, formerly of Al-Ahly, Al-Nassr and Guangzhou Evergrande (pictured) is reportedly being considered for the vacant Everton manager's job
Ex-Real Madrid and Juventus defender Cannavaro also captained Italy to the 2006 World Cup
The Toffees are looking for a new manager after Benitez's (above) sacking this month
Everton are 16th and looking over their shoulder as they sit six points above the bottom three
Cannavaro, 48, is reportedly on the shortlist along with Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Niko Kovac to take over at Goodison Park, with Roberto Martinez looking an increasingly unlikely option.
Cannavaro's playing CV includes stints with Napoli, Parma, Inter Milan, Juventus and Real Madrid as well as an astonishing 136 matches for his country.
His coaching résumé isn't quite as enviable. Al-Ahli, Guangzhou Evergrande, Al-Nassr, Tianjin Quanjian and, very briefly, the China national side.
That isn't to be disparaging to those clubs and the leagues of China, the UAE and Saudi Arabia but if Cannavaro is a coach worthy of taking on a Premier League club then surely during almost a decade in the dug-out, he might have earned himself a job in Europe, let alone England?
Why has Cannavaro not managed in his native Italy, for example, where coaches come and go with regularity? Why has no club owner wanted to take a punt on a national hero?
Cannavaro's last manager role was a four-year stint at Guangzhou Evergrande where he won the Chinese Super League in 2019
Guangzhou Evergrande clinched an eighth Chinese Super League title in nine seasons
And that's before you consider Everton's dire state of affairs. 16th in the Premier League and just six points above the relegation zone after a run of just one win in 13 league matches.
Is Cannavaro, someone with no experience of the intense pressures of a Premier League relegation battle or indeed any relegation battle anywhere as a coach, really able to cope?
Little wonder the Everton fanbase has been left baffled. But then nothing their owner Farhad Moshiri does really surprised anymore.
Plenty have pointed out that Cannavaro's agent is Kia Joorabchian, which seems enough to get Moshiri's ear these days.
But bringing in Cannavaro would represent such an enormous gamble given Everton's circumstances. No club is too big to go down - just ask Newcastle, Leeds or Aston Villa - and Benitez's disastrous spell has left the 'R' word on the lips of Everton fans.
To his credit, Cannavaro has been successful in his first few managerial assignments.
Everton fans have been left pretty baffled that the club would consider Cannavaro as manager
At Al-Ahli in Dubai, as assistant to Cosmin Olaroiu, he helped them to a double of UAE Pro League and UAE League Cup in 2013-14.
Cannavaro helped Tianjin win promotion to the Chinese Super League in 2016 and won that competition with Guangzhou Evergrande, who dominated at the time with eight title wins in nine seasons from 2011.
Perhaps that counts for something at Everton, where they haven't won anything since 1995, but those achievements hardly stand comparison with the Premier League and FA Cup.
A cynic would say that Cannavaro's CV is just a case of following the money. In 2018, it was revealed that the
