Has Dominic Calvert-Lewin already peaked?

I'd rather not lose him now, unless we have a replacement lined up and Everton don't have the history to provide me with confidence there.

He's come on no end. His in the box play and carving out goals has rapidly progressed this season.

I've said before, the difference between him and Kane is that Kane can do it outside the box too.

You can coach positional awareness, coach a striker to anticipate, gamble and get into the right place at the right time. Can you coach power in the shot from range? I'm not so sure. There's much more an element of naturalness about that. Just like pace. We can make Michael Keane do sprint shuttles all day but he won't get faster, just tired.

I wouldn't say Dominic has peaked, but would agree with the sentiment. The style of player you see is what you've got. I think he will get better, but only at what he does now providing the team plays to his strengths, as with any striker.

Personally I'd rather not lose him right now, but thats down to who the manager is I suppose, how he wants to play and what personnel he has in mind to play his way.

DCL is still learning his trade and most certainly hasn't peaked. DF appears to have done a good job of bringing him on and CA pointed the way to finishing with the one touch. He just needs a top coach to come in and continue believing in him, building his confidence to try his luck from outside the box.

He'll never be another Aguero or Kane, he just doesn't have it in those "whites of the eyes" combat situations with goalies.

Should we sell him?

Depends if the money is right and what replaces him.

Ultimately the clubs looking at him will have noticed what we've noticed (he's no Aguero) and will adjust there offers accordingly.

Richarlison, we should cash in on him and I suspect he'll be gone if there's any interest.

Wenger started his Arsenal revolution on the back of selling peak Anelka and Leicester progressed after Mahrez, Kante and Chillwell left. Liverpool won the CL after losing Owen and more recently improved after Torres, Suarez and Coutinho went.

DCL is decent but hardly irreplaceable

Benitez appointed to the chagrin of many Evertonians and then because some think that Dominic is at his peak, we sell him for £40-50m is this really a recipe for success?

Stand by for operation 'park the bus' because if we remove players who score goals we'll have to defend our area for 90% of the time at home and away. What joy it is to be alive!

We need better supply to him, with better quality crosses from more advanced positions. A right sided attacking forward/midfielder like Perrieira will deliver even more goals for Dom. He is a player we should be building a team around, not contemplating selling.

If Richarlison wants to go, so be it. Get top dollar for him. Re invest in a left sided attacking midfielder who can create assists for DCL from that side too.

You stuck three players together that left Leicester in different eras. They didn't progress when Kante and Mahrez left they went from being champions to a relegation battle and sacked the manager. Then they were mediocre for some years before getting into the Europa.

He'll be good for 12-20 league goals a season for the next half decade. It's the goals around him that we need to find. We need at least 2 more players in the squad that can hit double figures. To think of selling DCL for £50m - the same price as Arsenal are apparently spending on Ben White - is ridiculous.

A club with a big club mentality would have kept the likes of Stones and Lukaku.

We do not live up to our motto by contemplating getting rid our few best players. We should replace those who are bog average.

If hes sold, the bidding needs to be £75m minimum.

Buy high, sell low - wtf.

“The guidance I have, is that Everton think Calvert-Lewin is very valuable and they wonder whether he's reached the peak of his development.

“My personal view, and it's not relevant is that I see him as still improving and I like what I see, but experts within Everton have a sense that he's reached his peak.” – Duncan Castles

Just providing a conduit for comment, as it were...

Perhaps another telling factor is how much a goal-shy England has used him in the Euros?

We said the same about Lukaku and then spent the next 5 years complaining we didn't have a goal scorer.

I don't think he'll get much better. I'm not convinced it's poor supply – there were a shitload of god-awful misses last season. But, if he had better players around him creating more chances, then, by the infamous Law of Averages, he would score more... and miss more!

I've never liked him very much because he couldn't and cannot shoot properly. That just drives me batshit crazy. So I don't think I'd miss him in exchange for £50M. But we'd need to get a proper striker in... or promoted from the Academy!

Maybe Broadhead is just gagging for it!!!

I cant see another way to get out of our pridicament other than Moshiri having a gigantic splurge on top players ala Man City. (sorry for the repetitive solution but I cant see another}.

If we can make a long term breakthough we will become a truly massive club again theres no question about that.

Dear Mr Benitez

The first thing that any new manager needs to sort out is our attacking options, or we will be looking at a minus goal difference again and probably a flirtation with the relegation zone, happy days.

He has carried the goal burden in a poor team for so long without proper support.

He was up there competing for the golden boot until Carlo spat his dummy out and the team took a dive.

IMO strikers like Dom are in short supply and would and should cost over 100m. Lets see what Harry Kane goes for.

"DCL has no doubt had his head turned with talk of a possible move to a bigger club" so how is that relevant? No one is talking about a "bigger" club they're talking about Arsenal, another badly run once "big" club with a skinflint owner, a second rate coach and a lousy team.

No.

The Guardian and BBC reported his sale to City at 47.7 million with potential add-ons! That for a player we paid 3 million for just 3 years previous. At his wheeler-dealer best, Moyes never bought and sold that well. This, for a talented footballer who was a poor defender. Worse, a defender "coached" by Roberto Martinez.

Remember, the Club rejected his attempted move to Chelsea one season and were rejecting his move to City the next, forcing him to put in a transfer request.

Years of information available if you want to give it to Kenwright. Not this.

Sterling is looking around at his England team mates, Kane, Phillips, Grealish, Saka. Do you really think he's going to home in on DCL and say "you know what? you're the perfect man to replace Aguero."

Or do you think Harry Kane who publicly wants to leave Spurs will be tapping him up to join his soon-to-be ex club, or Rashford will be saying "come to Utd and take my place."

Unfortunately that is not the case with the 2021 version of Everton FC. All too frequently our front players have been starved of decent service. People remember Calvert-Lewin's misses more because we create so few scoring opportunities. If we sell him and lose one or two other key players through transfers, injuries or loss of form, a dire relegation struggle beckons.

The idea we might sell him is ludicrous: which means it will probably happen.

He's the sort of player (like Rice) who Lampard would have wanted at Chelsea. But Tuchel will want a more polished footballer.

His development has been sensational. From skinny lad with a bit but not electric pace, every season he's been here he's got better and better.

The first couple he didn't look like he'd ever score many, but would be a 'workhorse'. A solid PL 6-10 goal a season striker with a club between 15-10th.

Then he started getting faster. His pace has improved greatly, not electric acceleration, but once he's in his stride he's flying.

He also started getting bigger and bigger, no longer a skinny lad, he's as strong as an ox and can ruffle the feathers of even the hardest defenders around.

And he's started scoring. 8 goals in 2 consecutive seasons, then almost doubled to 15 and then 21 this last season.

He doesn't look like a one season wonder, because it has come from steady development - not like with the likes of James Beattie who had done nothing only to have one unexpected season of goals (and us the mugs that bought him based on it).

Everything suggests he'll be banging them in for seasons to come. He's got much room for improvement, and his previous suggests he will.

The world Cup is in 18 months or so, and I'm sure he'll be targeting being first choice by then.

Of all the players at the club, DCL is the one I hope stays.

I've been honest, some would say critical, about Duncan Ferguson not living up to the potential and legend as a player.

There were other issues with Duncan, namely injury & discipline which meant he wasn't on the pitch as much as we'd have liked. But in his defence and to contradict my honesty / criticism of him, when he was, we too often didn't play to his strengths.

What was the point of having Duncan if you were not going to play wide players getting crosses in? Too often we hit it down the middle to him from deep central positions. As a centre back pairing, one challenges. Even with the knowledge you probably won't win the first ball it, your other centre back can pick up the knock on pieces quite easily.

Back to your point. With a centre forward like Dominic, if you are going to get the best out of him, you need width and crosses. High crosses, low drilled crosses; it matters not, just play with width. Otherwise he's wasted.

Some people need to grow up, this is what happens to players on international duty, that's one of the few things we do know about modern football or should do !

He had a flying start to the season but from Nov/Dec on he looked a lot more like the much maligned player from previous years but that could be the clubs fault for not having any sort of backup when he needed a rest.

What's the obsession with him having to score goals from outside the area? I don't remember Gerd Muller getting many of them. Get some balls into the box and he'll score plenty with one touch.

And poor Michael's match reports would be so less entertaining if Dominic was not there to be berated.

He's not a complete or all round striker in the sense of Kane or like Grahame Sharpe was, but he has his strengths. If he's in the team, you have to play to them.

We sold Lescott for good money and got Distin, a better player for buttons.

We got good money for Lukaku and replaced him with shite.

We paid buttons for DCL... but it would be crazy to sell him when he is still improving. I doubt this rumourn

Its all about recruitment and Brands did better last window.

On the flip side, l think Richarlison can be equally effective when played on his own in the middle.

I never said they all left together your reasoning infers my list of Liverpool players also left at the same time which is downright weird.

The point is both clubs are now in a stronger position as a result of said transactions with silverware to boot surely you can understand that?

Or maybe you feel Liverpool's 3rd means the team and Klopp are finished.

"The point is both clubs are now in a stronger position as a result of said transactions with silverware to boot surely you can understand that?"

Your original post said they "progressed" I assumed you meant on the field but your last post implies off the field, financially. If it's the latter then yeah both are in better financial shape now.

Actually, both on and off the field.

Liverpool are now genuine title contenders each year and Leicester have gone beyond the lucky "one off" champions tag.

It doesn't always happen but "best player" trading is a fact of life and is there to be taken advantage of. Our issue is we tend to buy dross upon receiving big dough

The 㿞M quoted though is way too low when considering other options. We may be expecting too much from him if we are striving for Europe. He may be England's No 2 striker as quoted but he's not hungry enough to dislodge a clearly out-of-sorts Kane.

Calvert-Lewin is a player we should build a team around and get many on here want to sell him because he doesn't score from distance!!!!

Point me to a striker that would cost less than £50million who can do what Calvert-Lewin does at the age of 24. If he was playing for England in the Euros, England would do better than they are now.

Never be a natural goal scorer People compering him with Lukaku Jeez I wish. Lazy goal scorer v workhorse with zero composure.

Sell him for that stupid money, for me anyway.

I don't think he's peaked, and even if he has, DCL is still easily good enough for most teams in the Premier League for another 8 or 9 years with his pace, strength and leap. No top manager will expect him to score outside the box if Ancelotti doesn't so all his future managers will just make sure he's in the box as much as possible, unless he's the foil to another goal scorer.

After these last few years of management changes, one lesson the club must learn is also have a huge list of replacement players for each transfer window in case one of our best 11 want to leave. Make the sale quick, get a good price like 㿨 million for either Richarlison or DCL as an example, and get bids made on that list to bring in a top quality replacement player.

Maybe that's too Football Manager and much harder in the world of football though, as we didn't do this after Rom left for some bizarre reason.

In terms of recruitment policy, when we buy young unknowns that have had some professional league experience, we've done really well. Stones, Lukaku, Holgate, Richarlison, DCL, Lescott, Baines, Kean, Vlasic, Fellaini, and I think Branthwaite will get there too.

There are not too many exeptions like Sandro. We should definitely do more of this. Also, apart from a few outliers like Sandro, we make a lot of money from developing young experienced pros.

When we bring in names from the top leagues like Iwobi, Siggy, Allan, Bernard, Gomesh, even Keane, we get disappointed easier. James Rodriguez is both brilliant when fit, but disappointing fitness wise which is half the season. Digne is a good buy and Pickford has come through as a good signing.

I'd say Pickford is the player the top clubs will now be sniffing around soon because he's been a good 8 out of 10 for 20 games.

It was the same with Lukaku. Though DCL has never talked about leaving.

I'm not a close adherent of statistics but according to Premierleague.com DCL's shooting accuracy is 44%, the same as Harry Kane's, and on average he misses a "big chance" (however they categorize that) once in every three games. Kane's is slightly worse in missing one once in every two and a half games.

Contrast that with Sergio Aguero's shooting accuracy of only 42% and his miss rate of "big chances" being one in two, therefore even worse than Kane's.

So yeah, let's sell the useless fucker eh?

Honestly, some folk need to get their heads outta their arse and see the light.

Yes! you are correct he is better that Kane and Aguero.

FFS

My record is better than Duncs. Every time I got to Goodison I blow really hard and even take credit for guiding Bakayoko's first goal into the net

Geoff

In fairness, DCL had a tonne of assists under Koeman. He's become more selfish as instructed and his partner in crime is usually rolling around on the halfway line instead of being in the box looking for knock downs

Also, DCL was instructed by Ancelotti to stay in the box. What do you want him to do? Run the channel and get on the end of his own crosses?

But the team has to support that. Play with width for starters, but that's not everything. We saw in the latter half of last season, he was often isolated. We need the midfield to be closer to him, not camped on the edge of our own box. To push the midfield higher up the pitch, we need the defence to come out and player higher when we have possession.

If we are not going to play with width, as we often didn't, you are going down the route of playing through the middle and between the lines, which would likely require a different type of forward. Arsenal done it for years and I think City prefer it, although do have options, mainly through their full backs. I think anyway. Happy to be corrected on that. Liverpool, from what I've seen are more about full back to forward, but mostly not in a traditional width and cross sense? They try to hit the forwards early and almost by-pass midfield a lot of the time.

Interesting, As I've typed this, it seems that most teams' width now comes from their full backs, not traditional wingers or wide midfielders??

He is not one of the problem areas in need of fixing, so I would hope we could keep him and build around him.

But not with Benitez.

Ivan Toney, older than DCL and with only lower league experience, is valued at 㿏 million.

Why the heck would we sell for 㿞M?

What we must learn:

Sell players if you already have the replacement lined up. If Brands has identified some striker for 㿀 million who he is sure is better than DCL, and he sees an opportunity to 'cash in' and fund wider squad improvement, fair enough.

This is what the likes of Dortmund do. They prepare for selling their talents, but they only sell after the replacements are identified and wheels in motion to get them signed. But selling then rushing about looking for someone is what results in signing players like Tosun for 㿅 million.

Exactly. There is actually nothing wrong with selling your good players providing there is a plan and strategy to replace them.

Having used Dortmund as a good example amongst others we've previously mentioned, I'll give you a bad one. Sadly the team I follow in Germany and their Derby rivals, Schalke.

Their academy arguably has rivalled Ajax over the years when you look at the genuine top drawer players they consistently produce. They eventually fell foul of a business model that seemed to rely on churning them out, getting a few seasons out of them and then selling them on, often at huge profit.

The danger being, if you don't replace, or the academy goes through an inevitable dry period, it bites you.

Huge name in German football and in Europe. They've just been relegated.

But Brands also must take it on the chin and called out for not finding a younger almost ready made right back in the last 3 years. Yes, we may have someone coming through in reserves one day and Coleman is fit as a fiddle and Sidibe on loan bought some time to look around, but relying on Godfrey and Holgate was not the right call. As Danny points out above this post, most full backs these days venture high up the pitch and make their own space for a cross. It's not Holgates game and it placed too much expectation on him thinking about being a world class crosser of the ball when he has spent a career thinking about tracking a man and winning the ball. No centre back becomes a right wing back/David Beckham after a few games, and so Brands must take it on the chin on this one in terms of not having identified a need and starting a process to get the right player in a few transfer windows back.

Some things we do really well in recruitment, some things are still mystifying.

I have no idea if either is true but it could be a case of 2+2 as wasn't there talk of James going to an Italian club and rather than a fee a forward (not sure if it said Centre Forward or even striker) coming the other way. If there is any truth in that we could sell Calvert-Lewin and have said swap, Kean and Richarlison as strikers and the cost of a right back and one other.

While I did read something somewhere about that swap it just shows how easy it is to put these things together.

Still, in sharing the more accusatory manner towards fellow fans, as you do with one or two oft-ridiculed others, you're not one to let basic written English cloud your judgement are you old bean?

By the way, I think Dom should certainly not be sold either.

And I don't mean playing 2 up front. I don't think that works in the modern game and would expose you in midfield. I'm more thinking we had no option to rest him or change it as we didn't have any other options. He was our only striker.

Let's not criticise the coaching, but if these are the genuine thoughts of the experts at Everton, I'd be very, very surprised, but also very saddened that they don't want to work on a player who has got nearly all the tools, and has just been voted Everton's player of the season. No wonder people criticise what's going on at finch-farm, when they read bollocks like this.

I think maybe we could have put Richarlison in the middle but then, where's the supply line? Whatever the reason, we had an awful goals for, to goals against, which seems to point to problems all over the pitch. I agree with Jerome, that Dom misses a good number of chances that a goalscorer should be putting away. And if we rely one one man, then you're right, there is little option to rest him, other than Richarlison.

Our successful team of the 80s relied not on just having strikers scoring the goals, but midfield and even defenders weighing in. Didn't Mountfield score 14? A centre back? And then we had Sheedy, Stevens and Gary Stevens (our right back) consistently scoring goals.

We can't rely on single points of success or failure. Without looking at the stats, I can only really think of Dominic, Richarlison and Sigurdsson as our regular goal scorers last season.

If you want the best out of Dominic, we need to play with width first and foremost. But, we also need the midfield closer to him. To enable that, we need a defence that is more confident coming out and away from our own box to play higher when we have possession.

He was an isolated figure too often in the second half of the season.

A team with a few more dangerous attacking players always makes things easier, but it's easy for a lot of teams playing against Everton already, because we have so few goal scoring threats in our team, like you and Jim, are by alluding to Danny.

If we can get the best out of Richy and Dom, without just leaving them to carry the goalscoring burden, then they are both top class young players who we are asking to do things, additional to the roles they are best suited to. And in a team who quite often left them so far upfield they communicated by mobile. Keep the both if we can but get more goalscorers. How many has Gomez scored since he's been here...1?

Which comments Kevin, because I've watched the interviews and read all the comments on the Echo website and there's nothing I could see or hear that would lead me to your conclusion? I only saw and heard an intelligent and articulate young man giving the stock answers to what amounts to stupid questions.

“What my future holds and what people speculate about is not my concern at this moment in time.”
now I agree that's not a written transfer request, but reading between the lines he is more than up for a move. And this is on top of his 'I'm happy, for now' comments last week.

We should keep and build in support.

We'll probably sell and on the cheaper side of a proper price too.

I agree.

He could have said he was dedicated to helping Everton become the greatest team since Brazil 1970 or some such but delivered a weasel word statement that translates to available and ready to ship out at a moments notice. Moyes did the same when asked about the vacancy at Spurs during the Euros all those years ago.

These planks must think we're all fucking thick.

In honestly, I pay little attention to the assist thing. That's qualified by the last player to touch the ball before the scorer. What about the build up play? The player who played a sweeping switch-play pass to pick out the "assister". All play their part in the phase of play that leads to a goal and therefore assist.

We need to keep our best players, and sign more very good ones, to give us squad depth, strength-in-depth, absolutely essential these days to compete at the top.

Also, the lad himself won't be the first to have his head turned / tapped up at an England camp.

If we add more on the right-hand side, both he and Richarlison will be almost unmarkable and will score goals by accident. There is a lot of genuine quality on this team but absolutely no balance. Genuinely great players like Gomes and Richarlison will begin to look great when they play in a team that can play from both sides of the park.

We at this moment can be outcoached by any idiot who realises that we are spectacularly vulnerable, both defensively and offensively. It's a sad state that we can all take comfort from…

He probably never will then.

All the more reason to at least try for Ings if it gets the best out of Calvert-Lewin. Not exactly inspired visionary scouting as we thought that's what Brands was paid for but he's the biggest disappointment so far as a Director of Football. Still time, I suppose.

That doesn't mean bringing in the usual suspects, other teams' headaches, like we have with Iwobi, Bernard, Gomes etc. By the way, we could save half their salary by at least loaning them all out if no one is daft enough to take them.

Calvert-Lewin absolutely should be part of our near-to-medium term plans. We do need a partner or competition (depending on formation).

This is not getting carried away with a few games in a tournament, but I'd be bold and look at Schick from Bayer Leverkusen.

I doubt the club will even consider, but that's the type of signing that would excite me.

There's a big chance that his replacement would be shite (going on our track record of expensive signings).

Now Zirkzee. Big commanding presence, but quick and skilful. Maybe the type of runner we need to provide options for the midfield as well as being to hit as a target? Also a bit handy with the odd free kick. I like that one.

Dutch connection too. I do wish Brands would look towards his native country more. Hopefully whilst he's taking care of this one, he's negotiating the Dumfries package too.

It's that time of year again where we hope, speculate and then get surprised or frustrated!!

But it stalled, so he opted for Bayern instead.

The irony that, if there's anything in this, we'll now pay them a handsome fee. That's football I guess!

Never look a gift horse in the mouth. This kid is going to be a star once he has a settled manager who can develop his skills.

Now he was a center forward. Any center half who had played against him knew he had been in a game and a battle

Cap doffed and head bowed to a very, very good center forward

That is grim news indeed and only 68yrs old!!!

Always remember his tribute to the Goodison faithful when Ipswich gave us an absolute lesson at GP knocking in 4 with Eric Gates scoring a blinder. Instead of booing the crowd rose and applauded the Gates goal with Mariner commenting afterwards he'd never seen anything like it.

Be worth a fortune today what a talented player he was

Interesting stats on Dominic. A friend of mine who supports Spurs said Dominic should have got more time on with England, because Kane can be out of the game in some matches and should be pulled off.

I do think he needs better coaching, and support when playing for Everton.

Paul Mariner was a great player.

Paul Mariner

Rom was, and is, able to create and finish his own opportunities by dribbling past people. (Remember Chelsea?) Dom does not have this ability. He relies almost entirely on good service, speed and anticipation.

Rom can physically dominate defenders to score, as he did Keane in my first game at Goodison. Dom cannot.

Rom can shoot from distance and score with either foot. Dom cannot.

Dom is already a solid Prem scorer, and he will get steadily better over the next few years IMO. We should definitely hang onto him.

However, he will never be a star on Rom's level. Never.

I'd like Dom to experience that sort of talent ('keeper aside) around him for once. Who knows, he might then even achieve more than the late Paul, or even "our 'Arry" as we must seemingly now call him for the rest of our lives.

PS; Hope he nor his agent are reading this!