Friday lunchtime and Emre Can found himself in the shadow of Goodison Park. Training with Liverpool was still a few hours away and, had he been spied, the presence of the midfielder at the home of their rivals Everton could easily have started one of social media’s more inane rumours.

Can was actually at Gwladys Street Primary School, alongside team-mate Simon Mignolet, for a question and answer session with Year 5 pupils as part of the Premier League’s Writing Stars initiative.

But before he received a grilling, and took part in a word-association rap battle with one starry-eyed youngster (Can lost), he was part of the classroom which listened intently to a discussion about resilience.

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It was delivered by Margaret Aspinall, the chairperson of the