Former Everton manager Sam Allardyce has said that he always knew striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin was going to be a star.
Indeed, the 68-year-old coach has stated that the England international was ‘always going to be a great player’ and recalls managing the forward when he was an emerging talent.
Speaking on the No Tippy Tappy Football YouTube channel, Allardyce said that the 26-year-old became ‘Everton’s biggest player’ in recent seasons, but injuries have inhibited his progress.
He said: “Dominic was always going to be a great player because I think he was 19 or 20 when he was playing with me upfront but he couldn’t score the goals that he’s started scoring so as he matured in a couple of years and has all that experience, he started putting the ball in the back of the net.
So, he became Everton’s biggest player. The biggest one they needed to keep. But for the last two seasons, or last two years, there’s one injury after another injury after another injury.”
Allardcye hits the nail on the head with DCL assessment
The 26-year-old striker began to come into his own as a centre-forward under former Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti during the 2020/21 season.
However, the striker has suffered consistent injuries over the past two seasons and was only available for 17 Premier League games last season.
Indeed, DCL was also unavailable for Everton’s opener against Fulham a fortnight ago and had to be withdrawn after a collision with Emiliano Martinez last week at Villa Park.
However, Everton manager Sean Dyche confirmed after the game that the forward managed to avoid a concussion, so hopefully it won’t be too long until he leads the line for the Toffees again.
In the meantime, the Blues are yet to recruit the much-needed centre-forward this summer, though a deal for Southampton’s Che Adams could be agreed before the end of the window
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