Seamus Coleman and his Everton team-mates had been making plans to help health service workers in the UK when they got a call from a rival skipper.

Just over a week ago it was announced that a whole host of Premier League footballers were launching the 'Players Together' campaign which would see players donating part of their wages straight to NHS charities.

The Toffees captain and fellow long-time club servant Leighton Baines were in discussions when they got a call from the captain of Merseyside rivals, Liverpool.

"We thought it would be a good idea to get some kind of donation together amongst the players," Coleman said in an interview with Sky Sports.

"As we were speaking about that, Jordan Henderson got in touch about his idea for things and he put a plan together for a few of the lads. I think if you can do it as a whole rather than individually, we can hopefully raise quite a few quid for the NHS, which will be massive.

"As players, we all want to help and I'm sure clubs were doing it individually but if you can do it together, it carries a bit more weight."

Coleman has also been sending money back home over the last number of weeks; donating €20,000 to the Feed The Heroes campaign, another €15,000 to the Do It For Dan fundraising drive while he also gave another large sum to the League of Ireland emergency fund.

Before making the generous contributions, the Republic of Ireland skipper admits to being unsure as to whether he should put his name to those donations.

"Back home in Ireland, we've got our frontline workers working very hard and putting their lives at risk every single day for the country," Coleman said.

"Someone made me aware of 'Feed the Heroes' and the campaign for that and I made a donation towards it.

"I'm never sure whether to put my name to a donation or not because you never know what kind of reaction you'll get - you'll always get some people saying you're doing it for the wrong reasons - but sometimes I think when you put your name towards something, it gathers momentum and publicity and then we can raise as much as we possibly can for people who are putting their lives on the line."

The 31-year-old defender also took time to reflect on the horrific leg break he suffered in 2017 playing for Ireland, which kept him out for nearly a year.

After getting over the tough initial stages of his recovery, Coleman talks about enjoying the challenge of getting back to full fitness.

"It was obviously a tough time," Coleman reflected.

"The immediate aftermath of it was probably the toughest, in the first few days after.

"You've got a lot of medication in the system, in a lot of pain and you're a bit drowsy most of the time so you can get a bit low.

"I think I was in hospital for four or five days before I got back to Donegal for a month and as soon as I got there, it was a case of this injury has happened and it's unfortunate, but the only way I can get over it and come back stronger is to use my mental strength that I knew I had.

"I looked at it as another challenge that I needed to overcome.

"In a weird way, I really started to enjoy the rehab and the challenge of getting back. I look back at that time as a massive learning phase for me and it sounds mad but it's probably something I wouldn't change.

"It challenged me as a person and it's something I really enjoyed at the time, which sounds quite strange."