Dominic Calvert-Lewin says it’s hard to put into words how happy he is to be back playing for Everton and feeling fitter and stronger than he has in a long while after two years of injury frustration.
The striker was coming off the back of his best season of his career in 2021, one in which he scored 21 goals in all competitions and represented England at the delayed 2020 European Championships, when he suffered a serious quad injury.
He would make just 15 starts in each of the next two seasons thanks to niggling hamstring problems and a knee injury sustained just days before the 2022-23 campaign was about to kick off and it seemed at one stage as though he might never be able to stay consistently fit.
Concerns had been raised among supporters that that Calvert-Lewin was being rushed back before he was fully ready under the mamagerial tenures of Rafael Benitez and Frank Lampard, with the club so reliant on their main centre-forward, but Sean Dyche arrived in January this year determined to get to the root of the problem.
The new manager and the club’s medical staff set about analysing every part of Calvert-Lewin’s routine, including the car he drove and the type of mattress he sleeps on to see if they could find the cause of his repetitive injuries.
Dyche also insisted that he not return to the team until he was fully fit. Though he did make a belated comeback late last season, only to break down again in the penultimate fixture against Wolves, he was able to use the summer to work through a structured rehabilitation plan that included a visit to a specialist facility in Germany.
He had to wait a little while longer before he was able to start a game this season but he now appears to be reaping the benefits of all that hard work.
“I’m not a very patient person,” Calvert-Lewin said in the first part of an extensive interview with the club’s official website, “but I’ve had to be patient and to repeat the process more times than I would have liked in terms of working so hard to get back and then have another upset, that was the most difficult part because it’s like the cycle repeats again.
“It’s my normal, playing football — and it has been since I was a kid. It reminds you of how precious it is and how much you enjoy doing it when it’s taken away from you.
“I just love it. Playing football is part of my identity so when you can’t do it and you’re not involved, you miss the training, the schedule, the camaraderie of being around the lads and being in it — prepping for games, rather than going home to prepare for a training session on your own or, even worse, in the treatment room.
“I can’t really put into words how happy I am to be back playing. I think you can see it on my face. To train every day and not worry about when I’m going to be back, what I’ve got to do when I’m back. I’m an action man; I prefer to do than to think or to speak, so to be able to do it makes life a whole lot easier.
“I felt like I was perhaps on a steady upwards trajectory and then you hit a road block — that’s when you have to look in the mirror and decide who you are going to be.
“I have a saying: ‘Time waits for no-one, the world keeps spinning’. When you’re sat on the sidelines everything goes on. I was doing well before the injuries, here at Everton and I got myself into a good position in the England set-up but people go past you because you can’t do anything about it.
“It’s hard to be deprived of playing but now to be back… The fire has been lit again.”
It said a lot for Calvert-Lewin’s self-confidence and maturity when he requested to switch from the No.29 to the famous No.9 worn by so many Everton legends down the years.
It was a statement of how ready he felt to take that mantle on and he responded with what was a terrific season for him personally in Carlo Ancelotti’s only full season at the club, even if the campaign eventually fizzled out along with the club’s charge for Europe.
“I absolutely know the responsibility that it comes with and I relish it,” he expained. “I think it comes from who I am as a — my character and what’s engrained in me. I come from Sheffield, the steel city, and I think the people here — Everton Football Club and the city of Liverpool — are not too dissimilar to the people I grew up around.
“I understand them. I’ve always accepted and enjoyed the challenge of how they perceive me as a number nine. I’ve always used that as motivation. It’s definitely something that fuels me. I think, when I’m fit and flying, I play with aggression and energy – and I think that’s how the Evertonians want their number nine to play.
“It gives me great confidence that I can play a big part because I do care about the Everton fans and I’m not one that would ever say ‘I don’t care, I come in and do my job’… I do care about this club. I do care about how the fans perceive me as well. I can be honest and say that.
“I’ve been here since I was a young kid and I’ve grown into a man. I wear that number 9 shirt with pride. I want the fans to back me and put out performances where they can say, ‘He’s our number 9’.”