Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Sean Dyche insists Everton have no decision to make on Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s future this month – because no one has moved to sign him yet.
For now the focus remains on helping the under-performing Toffees striker find his scoring touch again. But the Blues won’t be bringing in any specialist striker coaches to solve their problems in front of goal. Only Southampton have scored fewer goals than Everton so far this season at the halfway stage of the Premier League campaign.
The Saints are at rock bottom and if Everton don’t find the net more often than the 15 they already have then they will be getting closer to the south coast side.
Calvert-Lewin, 27, has been without a goal since September 14 and that was his second of the campaign. Dyche argues that other teams had fewer quality chances than his Everton team but scored more.
Although when it comes to ‘great chances created’ the Blues are bottom of the pile in the Premier League with 20 while their XG is around the 17 mark.
“It’s not always the provider, sometimes it’s the last moment of truth,” said Dyche. “That’s why strikers and goal-scoring players are in demand. Getting there is one thing, the next challenge is being productive and the quality of the production and then the finish.
“There are teams that have fewer quality chances and score more goals. It’s all mixed in, it’s not just the creation, it’s finishing too.”
But he is not considering bringing in a specialist coach to help his forwards with Beto on just one goal and Armando Broja without one in his four games since recovering from an Achilles injury.
“The thing with striker coaches, if it was that easy every club would do it around the world and get loads of strikers,” he said. “Academies search the world for the main strikers and yet clubs buy strikers who have developed through their (own) path.
“It is a very difficult skill to teach someone to smell a goal. It’s like instinct. Learning intuition is very, very difficult.”
Calvert-Lewin has less than six months left on his contract with the club so there may be a temptation to swap if an offer comes in but Dyche insists speculation about Atalanta’s Serie A side is rife.
“No contact from anyone,” he said. “There will surely be rumors and speculation. That’s its nature. We will think about it if that happens. As there has been no contact, there is no need for discussions.”
But what could be a concern for Calvert-Lewin is Chelsea’s on-loan striker Broja started last week against Nottingham Forest ahead of him and could do so again this weekend at Bournemouth.
“His numbers (Calvert-Lewin) are a bit harsh on him as two goals are own goals, that skews the numbers. Some of the production has been better to give them the chance and some of it has been a moment of truth to take the chance.”
Meanwhile, Dyche has no interest in Neal Maupay’s social media comments this week. Maupay is on loan from Everton in Marseille and has been posted on X following the club’s 2-0 defeat against Forest last weekend.
He wrote: “Whenever I’m having a bad day, I check the Everton score and smile.”
Dyche said: “I think it’s fair to say there’s a bigger picture for Everton Football Club that I’m focused on and I don’t think I need to worry too much.” Asked if there could be disciplinary action, Dyche added: “I don’t think I would worry about that.”
Maupay has not played for the Blues since 2023. He scored just one goal since signing from Brighton in 2022 and spent last season on loan at Brentford.
