Dominic Calvert-Lewin has expressed the intentions of both himself and his club to return to the top of English football by declaring: “You can’t play for Everton if you can’t handle the expectation.”
Called up to the England squad for the first time this week, the striker – who has netted eight goals in five games so far this season (including back-to-back Goodison Park hat-tricks against West Bromwich Albion and West Ham United) – is enjoying the best form of his career to date.
It’s been a steep learning curve for the 23-year-old though, who arrived at the Blues from home city club Sheffield United in 2016 after just a dozen games and no goals for the Blades.
Calvert-Lewin told the Daily Telegraph : “It has taken time.
“There’s no hiding that there’s been many ups and downs.
“You can’t play for Everton if you can’t handle the expectation because the fans love the club so much and I have played in some tough European away nights at a young age when things have not gone very well.
“My experiences over the past few years have 100% helped me get to this point.
“You learn probably more from the lows than the highs because when you are high everything is good.
“It’s about how you cope with the dips and how you bounce back.”
After initially wearing the number 29 shirt at Everton, Calvert-Lewin chose to drop the ‘2’ at the start of last season and take on the most-coveted jersey at the club that has been worn by legends such as Dixie Dean, Tommy Lawton, Dave Hickson, Alex Young, Joe Royle, Bob Latchford and Graeme Sharp.
However, rather than the feel the weight of history, the switch has coincided with an upturn in scoring fortunes – despite Everton’s lowest Premier League finish for 16 years in 2019/20 he netted a career high 13 goals (15 in all competitions) and just a month into the new campaign he’s already more than halfway to matching that total.
Calvert-Lewin said: “It was a statement of intent. To show I want to be the main man.
“It was a recognition that the club believed in me. To give me that shirt and the importance that comes with it.
“It was in line with my thoughts and it was nice to get it because it showed it was in line with their thoughts as well.”
That progression has continued in spectacular fashion of late under Carlo Ancelotti, who has challenged his centre-forward to be more like his former AC Milan player Filippo Inzaghi who was a master of one-touch finishes.
Calvert-Lewin said: “He mentioned that to me two weeks before he said it publicly. “As a young centre-forward to be compared to a player like that who is a history-maker in football, who scored so many goals, it’s a nice feeling and, again, sub-consciously it does give you that boost.
“With the manager I am his number nine now and that is what he has planned for me. I need to see it as a challenge because he believes I can reach certain heights and I believe that myself. It’s about keep learning, be a sponge and take everything in.”
He added: “I think he wants a few more from me, to be honest!
“And rightly so. It’s been a great start and he told me he was going to bring players in to create chances for me.
“Even that is a confidence-boost, letting me know I am going to be there and there are going to be players around me with quality and it’s down to me then.
“It’s kind of a figure of speech (the one-touch finish line). It’s not like I am 30 yards out and I am trying to shoot off one touch.
“To score off one touch you have to be in certain areas; that’s in the six-yard box; in the 18-yard box; on the move. The emphasis is on being in the right place to be the man to put the chances away.
“I would say over the past 12 months it’s been a big learning curve.
“It’s not just working hard in training, it’s being a student of the game, studying the game, learning my position, getting in better positions, scoring more goals.
“It’s not technically, tactically because I have learnt that since I was a kid. It’s been more about the mental side of things. It’s something that I carry with pride – the Everton number nine – so I am exactly where I want to be.”
And what about the team, with Ancelotti at the helm, Calvert-Lewin firing on all cylinders, Richarlison on fire and new signings Allan, James Rodriguez and Abdoulaye Doucoure already lighting things up on the field?
Calvert-Lewin said: “I believe we can achieve big things.
“You have to look at the way we are playing now in comparison to this time last year.
“We want to bring silverware back to Everton, we want to get into the Champions League.
“Hopefully that is this season and if it is not then inevitably it will be in the near future if we continue on this path. I am pretty confident of that.
“There has been a momentum shift and a mentality shift. There is now a belief that we can achieve and can compete against anybody.”
