Many happy returns to Dominic Calvert-Lewin on his 26th birthday. But when the Everton striker blows out his candles tonight, he’ll be forgiven for wishing for a better year ahead.
Turning 26 might not seem an obviously significant milestone but for professional footballers you are expected to be at the peak of your powers by the time you are in your late 20s. When it comes to leading Everton centre-forwards of yesteryear, Graeme Sharp won his second League Championship at 26; it was also the same age Bob Latchford was when he went into the 1977/78 season in which he’d finish top scorer in the First Division with 30 goals while Gary Lineker was in his 26th year when he plundered 40 in all competitions for the Blues before netted the Golden Boot at the World Cup finals.
Perhaps poignantly for Calvert-Lewin, it is also around this age that Everton manager Sean Dyche believes players start to understand their own bodies better. Speaking last month when he vowed to leave no stone unturned when it came to solving his number nine’s injury woes by looking into his diet, lifestyle, what car he drives, what mattress he uses and how many hours he sleeps at night, the Blues boss said: “It’s hard to explain but when you’re a player you know the difference when something is not right or something when you go ‘no I can shake that.’ It takes a number of years to learn about your own body, younger players don’t often have it but older players do and Dominic is in that middle bracket of course, you’re usually 25ish plus when you learn that.”
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Out of the side since he went off with a hamstring problem after an hour of Everton’s 1-0 home win over Arsenal in Dyche’s first match in charge back on February 4, there had been whispers of a potential comeback at Chelsea being pencilled-in for Calvert-Lewin. But the player wasn't pictured alongside his team-mates on the latest training video. And when asked about the situation today , Dyche said: “It wasn’t overly in my thinking for the Chelsea game, regardless of anything else. Because the international break comes and you can hopefully use that even more wisely. So we’re just monitoring his body."
Given that Everton have still only netted 20 goals in 27 Premier League games so far this season, Calvert-Lewin’s importance to giving them the best possible chance of survival in their bid to avoid what would be a first relegation in 72 years is obvious. The most natural scorer in the squad, as recently as 2019/20 and 2020/21 he bagged 15 and 21 goals in all competitions in back-to-back campaigns.
However, the issue over the past two seasons has been simply getting him on to the pitch and keeping him there. In 2021/22, Calvert-Lewin featured in 17 Premier League games, completing 90 minutes in 10 of them while this term he’s had just 11 outings, going the distance on a mere three occasions.
While Evertonians are understandably frustrated by the unavailability of their leading striker, especially when the stakes are currently so high, it must be remembered that it’s not Calvert-Lewin’s fault that club chiefs have not made the recruitments to ease the scoring burden placed on his shoulders and we should all try and avoid the pitfalls of falling into the trap of thinking that he doesn’t want to be out there on the pitch. Suggestions that the Sheffield-born player’s off-the-field activities such as his passion for fashion have somehow tipped the scales in his work-life balance are nothing more than an unfounded smokescreen to undermine a model pro who remains dedicated to the sport he loves.
Calvert-Lewin might have been pictured with Donatella Versace at Milan Fashion Week last summer but he is no prima donna. Here is a footballer who kicked off his senior career some six divisions below the Premier League among the rough and tumble of non-League fare, spending the first night of a loan spell at Stalybridge Celtic in A&E after an elbow in the face had left him with a black eye.
His manager back then was Keith Briggs, who combined his role at Bower Fold with working at Sheffield United’s Academy and recalling his former protégée’s attitude when speaking after Calvert-Lewin’s first goal for Everton back in 2017, he was in no doubt about the kind of character he possesses. Briggs told the ECHO: “His approach coming into a tough environment, putting his body on the line and commitment to the cause was superb.”
Surely such sentiments tell you all you need to know about Calvert-Lewin the man as well as the footballer. We all just want to see him fit and firing again but nobody more so than the player himself.
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