It's not been the brightest of starts to the season for Everton, who have lost each of their three Premier League fixtures, the last of which stung keenly, letting a late two-goal lead slip.
Indeed, despite winning 2-0 at home to Bournemouth, having played with confidence and style, Everton inexplicably capitulated and the Cherries lashed in three strikes to send the atmosphere at Goodison Park spiralling through the floor.
It cast a black blanket over an already disappointed fanbase, having lost 3-0 and 4-0 to Brighton & Hove Albion and Tottenham Hotspur previously, but there were positives to take from last weekend's result.
Sean Dyche and his Toffees team have been mired in the trenches before, and with Dominic Calvert-Lewin fit and firing, they might just have the firepower to shoot away from the relegation fodder this season.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin's resurgence
Calvert-Lewin, of course, will need to stay fit, something that he has not done with consistency over the past several years.
2024/25
3 (3)
1
1
2023/24
32 (26)
7
2
2022/23
17 (15)
2
1
2021/22
17 (15)
5
2
2020/21
33 (32)
16
1
2019/20
36 (30)
13
1
2018/19
35 (19)
6
2
2017/18
32 (18)
4
5
2016/17
11 (5)
1
0
Not including the current fledgling campaign, Calvert-Lewin has only started over half the fixtures in the Premier League season on three of eight attempts.
But when he's on top, he's on top. The 11-cap England international has scored 55 goals across 216 Premier League appearances and is regarded for his physicality and quality as the focal frontman.
Last season, he enjoyed a revival that saw him feature across 32 top-flight fixtures, lacking his former prolificness but finding his feet toward the end, posting four goals and an assist across the final seven fixtures as Dyche's outfit clicked into gear.
It's important to put things in perspective. Four matches into the 2023/24 season, Everton had lost their opening three top-flight fixtures while defeating Doncaster Rovers in the second round of the Carabao Cup, identical to present results.
Everton also finished comfortably in 15th place, and had they not suffered an eight-point deduction, they would have finished 12th.
Calvert-Lewin's late-season resurgence proved vital in hitting a winning patch of form and steering away from the dreaded drop zone. The Athletic's Patrick Boyland even remarked that he looked "like the DCL of old" following a commanding display against Liverpool.
Everton have bolstered their No. 9 spot by signing Armando Broja on loan from Chelsea with the option to make the deal permanent for £30m next summer, but Calvert-Lewin's early-season form, scoring a goal and an assist apiece already, suggests that he could take some shifting from the starting spearhead spot.
He will need to juggle the workload, however, for an extended layoff could prove to be ruinous for Dyche and his plans. Everton could do with another dynamic attacking presence – Broja, aged 22, is talented but scored only two goals across 27 matches last year.
Casting our mind back, Everton could definitely make good use of two former players, namely Anthony Gordon and Ademola Lookman, who have both shot to the upper echelon of the world's pantheon of players.
The latter, in particular, might just be the biggest regret when it comes to player departures.
How Gordon compared to Lookman in 2023/24
Atalanta superstar Lookman once plied his trade in Merseyside blue, signing from Charlton Athletic for a fee rising to £11m way back in January 2017.
A versatile winger with a love for scoring, he's one of Everton's brightest attacking talents of the past decade, with Gordon another to have carried high potential throughout his early days at the club before being sold and since realising his potential elsewhere.
Gordon was sold to Newcastle United for £45m in January 2023, and while the England international has since gone from strength to strength and been the subject of interest from Liverpool, who eyed a £75m deal this summer, Lookman would give him a good run for his money in claiming the tag of the player at the higher point.
It's quite simple really; after all, Gordon isn't on the Ballon d'Or shortlist, is he? He also posted 12 goals and 11 assists across all competitions last season for the Toon, winning their Player of the Year award. But alas, Lookman trumped him – and won gold during his continental campaign besides.
Indeed, Lookman's tally of 32 goals for the Bergamo-based outfit to date is more than Gordon has achieved in his entire senior career, with the Englishman netting just 21 times for the Toffees and the Magpies, respectively.
Still only 26 years old, the Nigerian forward has plenty yet to give but has recently hit the pinnacle of his career, scoring an emphatic hat-trick against previously invincible Bayer Leverkusen in last term's Europa League final to hand the Serie A side their first-ever European title.
He joined as a teenager, and this 19-year-old prospect carried exciting qualities under both Ronald Koeman and then Sam Allardyce but failed to bring it together on English shores, despite scoring on his debut against Manchester City's Pep Guardiola.
Indeed, in total, four goals across 48 matches were registered for the Blues, but his talent was recognised by Germany's RB Leipzig, who signed him for £22.5m in July 2019 during Marco Silva's time at the helm, after enjoying his performances on loan in 2017/18 – where he scored five goals and added four assists across just 11 outings in the Bundesliga.
Now playing for Atalanta, he's positively exploded. Last year, Lookman bagged 17 goals and ten assists across 45 matches in all competitions to outshine Gordon's return, now honoured with a nomination for the 2024 Ballon d'Or.
And why not? On top of his extraordinary performance on one of the biggest nights in Atalanta's storied history, he has maintained a fierce threat throughout, ranking among the top 1% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for goals scored per 90, as per FBref.
Such a meteoric rise has even earned the £38k-per-week talent a summer of interest from high-profile suitors such as Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal, though Italian sources' suggestions that Atalanta were looking for a €70m (£59m) figure appears to have dissuaded the interested parties.
This transfer price means that Lookman is worth more than any of Everton's forwards. Calvert-Lewin was pursued by Newcastle United in the summer but the Magpies were put off by Everton's demands of £40m earlier in the summer.
Of course, Lookman's post-Toffees career has been cardinal for his development; remaining on Merseyside, he may not have found the gusto to propel him to the 2024 Ballon d'Or candidate list or hit such a value, having now become an undoubted "superstar", as per 90min's Sean Walsh.
But one can't help but rue the failure of Silva and Co to keep a hold of him and ignite his career. Given that the likes of PSG and Arsenal hold a vested interest, it's clear that quite the pretty penny could have been fetched.
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ByAngus Sinclair Sep 4, 2024
