The most synonymous person between West Ham United and Everton is probably David Moyes. In between his two stints as the Toffees boss, he had two spells at West Ham, and he won the Europa Conference League with the East London side. However, Moyes did not play for either club. Here are the top five players who represented both West Ham and Everton.
The top five West Ham and Everton players
1. Tony Cottee
Tony Cottee grew up as a West Ham supporter as he was born in Forest Gate, which is very local to Upton Park. He had two stints as a Hammer, which sandwiched a spell with Everton. In total, he scored 138 goals for West Ham in 320 matches. His record for the Toffees was also impressive, finding the back of the net 82 times in 221 games.
Whilst with Everton, Cottee reached the FA Cup final in 1989, where they lost to Merseyside rivals Liverpool. The closest he came to silverware at West Ham was finishing third in the First Division in the 1985/86 season, where he had a great strike partnership with Frank McAvennie.
After leaving West Ham for the second time, he joined the Malaysian side Selangor. Cottee then returned to England with Leicester City, before also playing for Birmingham City, Norwich City, Barnet, whom he also managed, and then surprisingly Millwall. Cottee now works in the media as a pundit and co-commentator.
2. Slaven Bilic
The younger generation of West Ham fans will remember Slaven Bilic as the manager of the club who delivered such a fantastic final season at Upton Park. However, Bilic's side did then struggle to adapt to playing at the London Stadium.
Bilic also played for West Ham, which was one of the reasons why he was appointed as Sam Allardyce's successor in the Upton Park dugout. After playing in his native Croatia for Hajduk Split and in Germany with Karlsruher, Bilic joined Harry Redknapp's West Ham.
The defender played 54 times for West Ham before joining Everton, for whom he represented 32 times. He is currently out of work as a manager, having left the Saudi Pro League side, Al Fateh, back in 2024.
3. David Unsworth
David Unsworth came through the ranks at Everton and won the FA Cup with them in 1995. The left-back played 346 times for the Toffees across two spells, scoring 40 goals and providing five assists. He then moved to West Ham, but struggled to adapt to London life and was sold to Aston Villa after just one season.
Unsworth's spell at Villa was brief as he then returned to the Toffees. He also represented Portsmouth, Ipswich Town, Sheffield United, Wigan Athletic, Burnley, and Huddersfield Town. After retiring, Unsworth went into coaching and managed Everton on a caretaker basis on two occasions. He was most recently the manager of Oldham Athletic.
4. Lucas Neill
Lucas Neill joined West Ham after spells at Millwall and Blackburn Rovers. The Australian went on to captain the Hammers and represented them 89 times, scoring once and providing five assists from right-back.
Neill then joined Everton, where he was reunited with his countryman Tim Cahill. However, he played for the Toffees just 15 times before joining Galatasaray. The defender then became a journeyman, representing Al Jazira, Al Wasl, Sydney FC, Omiya Ardija, Watford and then Doncaster Rovers.
5. Kurt Zouma
Unfortunately, Kurt Zouma is now infamously remembered for kicking his cat. However, he was a very good player for West Ham, with whom he helped win the Europa Conference League.
Before his spell at West Ham, Zouma was at Chelsea, where he had a loan spell at Everton. Zouma now plays in the UAE Pro League for Al Wasl.
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