Everton have interviewed Fabio Cannavaro as the Premier League club continues its search for a new manager.

The Italian World Cup winner is keen to pursue his coaching career in England and is understood to have impressed in initial talks on Wednesday.

The former England team-mates Wayne Rooney, who is the manager of Derby County, and Frank Lampard, who is out-of-work after being sacked by Chelsea last January, are also being interviewed by Everton.

The club’s majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri and chairman Bill Kenwright, who is taking a key role in the recruitment process, are working their way through a list of candidates to succeed Rafael Benitez after he was sacked last Sunday.

However it is unclear whether the shortlist will now go beyond Cannavaro, Rooney and Lampard or whether they will be the only three spoken to. Sources suggested it may, in fact, already be down to a choice between the trio.

Everton had initially hoped to appoint former manager Roberto Martinez and approached the Royal Belgium Football Association on Sunday evening to discuss whether they were willing to release their head coach.

However the move was quickly blocked by the Belgians with Martinez having already told them he would not walk out on a contract that takes him up to the end of the World Cup in late December. Martinez had hoped to combine the two roles.

Cannavaro, a legendary former defender, is an intriguing option. During a stellar career he played for Parma, Napoli, Juventus and Real Madrid and also captained Italy as they lifted the 2006 World Cup in Germany after which he became the last defender to win the Ballon D’Or.