Business as usual where Calvert-Lewin is concerned

Everton have no intention of selling Dominic Calvert-Lewin during the winter transfer window and the striker’s contract situation will have no bearing on how Sean Dyche uses him for the remainder of the season.

Calvert-Lewin is out-of-contract at the end of this season and will be able to discuss terms in January with other clubs with an eye on a free transfer next summer but reports claim that the Club would rather risk losing him for nothing next June than cashing in halfway through the campaign.

That’s because Dyche sees him as integral to Everton’s main goal of Premier League survival this season. The 27-year-old has scored just twice so far in 2024-25 but is pivotal to the way the Blues play under the current manager.

“The number one priority since I’ve been here is safeguarding our status,” Dyche said last week. “Along the journey, we’ve obviously had to bring money in but fortunately have never been pushed as far as giving players away for any cost.

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“We can still make decisions on situations and I can’t see anything other than Dom certainly being here until the end of his contract and then hopefully beyond.

“I have an opinion of course on player trading, players in, players out, contracts. Kev (Sporting Director Kevin Thelwell) will take care of the business side of the club and we’ve worked pretty well together so far. We are pretty much aligned in what we think.”

And in terms of limiting Calvert-Lewin’s playing time this season due to doubts over whether he will remain with the Club beyond the summer, Dyche said: “I don’t do that. He will just keep playing. Get the shirt on, play hard, those are the rules. All the rest of it will look after itself.”

Calvert-Lewin was offered a new contract at Everton last summer but it remained on the table as he entertained a potential move to Newcastle United and left his options open after talks with the Magpies collapsed.

At present, he is not minded to re-open negotiations with the Toffees and will likely wait and see whether The Friedkin Group’s proposed takeover goes through before the end of the year and then whether Dyche will remain in charge next season.

There have been unconfirmed suggestions that the striker and his manager don’t always see eye-to-eye, although terse exchanges between the two have been observed by fans during matches and the former Sheffield United forward is said to be frustrated at times with the team’s tactics.

“He’s been here quite a long time,” Dyche said of Calvert-Lewin potentially keeping his options open. “He might be thinking, ‘which way is the club going? Which way am I going? What’s my part in it?’. I don’t think that would be unreasonable.

“Until the [Friedkin Group] deal is actually done, it is just a pointless task to start going ‘Oh yeah, what if this, what if that’.”

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