For some reason, though, they tended to find it hard going at times against Everton and Ljungberg winces when he recalls some of the buffetings he took when visiting the Blue half of Merseyside.

“They were always hard games and I remember everyone liked to kick me a bit!” he said with a wry smile. “When I was at Arsenal, everyone knew Goodison was such a hard place to go to; you knew it was going to be a physical game, played at 100 miles per hour.

“There is no mistaking that they are now a very good team and I think David Moyes has done a great job – an amazing job, I should say. We always had great respect for Everton and we knew that we might drop points against them.

“They are now so stable with a bit of flair. When I came to England, they were at the bottom of the table. Now they are a very organised team, everyone knows their job. Whether it is at home or away, you know it is going to be an exceptionally tough game.

“Could I have joined Everton? There were lots of clubs interested when I was leaving Arsenal and even last summer too but I wanted to do something totally different. I don’t want to get into who was involved exactly, all I will say is that Everton is a great club.”

One that he thinks would give a fabulous opportunity to a young compatriot; Rasmus Elm is due to make a decision about where his future lies in the next 24 hours but Ljungberg feels the 21-year-old would not go wrong if he joined the Toffees.

“Rasmus has played a couple of games for the national team and is extremely well regarded,” Ljungberg explained. “He’s very tall, has a presence on the pitch and is a great player. He will make a name for himself and a move to Everton would be great for him.

“Kalmar is a club very much like Everton, in that it is stable and they play a certain way. I think it would be really good if he moved to the Premier League to make the step forward in his career.”

If Elm is only just setting out on his footballing experience, Ljungberg is now heading towards the twilight of his career but, his contract with Seattle runs until the end of next year and life is evidently good; playing for the All-Stars is an added bonus.

“This is a new experience,” he said. “It’s enjoyable to be here and to play against a team from where I played most of my life; it will be a great occasion and hopefully both teams will be able to play some nice football.

“I’m not too sure how it is going to work. I’ve been wondering do we play it like a testimonial or do we go out full steam? I’ll feel my way into the first 10 minutes but Everton never give anything less than 110 per cent”
And Ljungberg certainly knows that better than most.