There was very little uproar when Dominic Calvert-Lewin left Everton as a free agent in the summer after scoring just three goals in his final season. Few predicted the revival that would follow when he joined Leeds United.
The striker faces his former club for the first time since his exit on Monday Night Football – live on Sky Sports – with eight goals in his last 10 games. Only once has ever bettered that scoring run in the Premier League. An England recall is in the offing now.
Calvert-Lewin is as strong a contender as any for comeback story of the season. The 28-year-old’s career was at a standstill after an injury-hit nine years on Merseyside, but Leeds were more than willing to take a risk on him as their No. 9 after sealing promotion.
Could Dominic Calvert-Lewin be Harry Kane’s back-up at the World Cup for England?
“I am pretty picky with my strikers and on which qualities I want,” Daniel Farke, the Leeds head coach, tells Sky Sports of the club’s summer recruitment drive ahead of Monday’s game at Everton.
“You can imagine each day, whatever handful of strikers was offered [to us]. But I was clear very early that if there is a chance to sign Dominic, I would sign him because I was always a big fan of his.
“For me, he’s one of the best English strikers that we have in this league and his quality was never in doubt.”
Monday 26th January 6:30pm
Kick off 8:00pm
In a summer when Hugo Ekitike, Viktor Gyokeres and Benjamin Sesko were signed for huge fees, free-agent Calvert-Lewin has outscored them all after 22 rounds of the Premier League.
If his goals keep Leeds up, he has a case for signing of the season, too. They go to Everton five points clear of the relegation zone.
The change of scenery has been transformative for Calvert-Lewin. “He was ready for a new challenge,” Leeds defender James Justin tells Sky Sports, likening it to his own situation at Leicester. “We’d been at the same club for a while and wanted something fresh.”
Justin joined Leeds 10 days on from Calvert-Lewin after his six years at Leicester ended in relegation to the Championship. Like Calvert-Lewin, his career had stalled and there was little upset when he departed. Both are now feeling the love at Elland Road.
“I’m just glad that he’s found a new home that appreciates him,” Justin adds. “He’s been ultra-professional this season. He takes care of his body, eats the right things and recovers well.
“He’s always looking to improve himself. I feel like that’s why the goals are coming. He’s full of confidence now.”
Justin believes an England recall would be richly deserved. “Definitely. If he keeps going, there is only one way that should be going. He’s a different option to what England have already.”
All nine of Calvert-Lewin’s Premier League goals have come between the width of the posts
Farke says England boss Thomas Tuchel, his good friend from their time in Dortmund, has his telephone number, but would not divulge if there had been any communication thus far about the striker.
Calvert-Lewin has been more forthcoming about a phone call he had with Farke before he joined Leeds. The striker was taken aback by the belief his new boss showed in him. An arm round the shoulder was needed.
“I can’t say I’ve had too many conversations like that with managers,” the striker told Sky Sports earlier this season. Farke’s human touch and desire to understand why things had gone awry struck a chord with Calvert-Lewin.
Once a centre-forward in his playing days, Farke could relate to Calvert-Lewin and understands how to get the best out of him. He says it was clear what the player needed.
Farke, who spent most of his career in Germany’s lower leagues at Lippstadt, was “probably the slowest striker in the whole of Western Europe” by his own reckoning but knew where the goal was. Something he shares in common with Calvert-Lewin.
“I have a soft spot for this type of players and perhaps sometimes the conversation here or there helps,” says Farke.
“I don’t have to explain to Dominic how to score a goal or what he has to do in front of the goal because he’s done this during his whole career and even on a better level than I have done.
“But perhaps it is more like that he knows he has a manager who knows exactly how he feels and what he needs, perhaps this helps a little bit, but all the credit goes to Dominic.”
Farke’s modesty belies his track record for reviving the careers of out-of-sorts strikers. Calvert-Lewin has not been shy to praise his coach’s role in his return to form. Ask Marcus Thuram or Teemu Pukki and they will tell you the same.
Daniel Farke played a key role in the development of Marcus Thuram (r) at Borussia Monchengladbach
The Leeds boss is more forthcoming about his impact when asked about those past successes.
“Marcus Thuram was more of a winger and not sure if he could play as a striker. I played him at Borussia Monchengladbach as a striker and then he played a World Cup final for France and right now he’s playing for Inter Milan and perhaps rated at £100m.
“I had the same with Teemu Pukki at Norwich when he arrived on a free transfer, he didn’t have the best time at Celtic, everyone was doubting him and he was fantastic, won the Golden Boot in the Championship, [got into] double figures on Premier League level.
“I had a similar situation also in my former smaller clubs in Germany. I can’t help myself, I’ve got a soft spot, especially for strikers.”
Calvert-Lewin’s first 10 Premier League games for Leeds stand in stark contrast to the last 10. Farke’s patience was tested, but he stuck by his man, unwavering in the belief that he would come good.
Leeds’ No. 9 had the debut from hell against Sheffield Wednesday in the Carabao Cup, missing three huge chances in stoppage-time before skying his penalty over the bar in a shoot-out defeat as the Premier League side crashed out of the second round.
Calvert-Lewin scored once in those first 10 games and missed all six of his clear-cut chances. Only Erling Haaland, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Igor Thiago, three of the division’s top four scorers at the time, had been more wasteful.
“Sometimes you find it difficult as a striker to convert the chances, sometimes you just have to watch a ball and the ball goes into the goal,” Farke says of Calvert-Lewin’s slow start.
“I never had any doubts about his belief [in himself] and about his skills and I was always believing that he would find his goalscoring form again.”
Like his team’s season, everything changed at half-time at Man City. Calvert-Lewin ended a seven-game barren spell in front of goal and kick-started a run of six in five. You know how the song goes. That figure grew as his goals helped pull Leeds clear of the bottom three.
A change in formation to 3-5-2 coincided with the striker’s return to scoring form. Leeds went more direct and Calvert-Lewin thrived with a strike partner. But even as the shape evolved and adapted in proceeding weeks there was one constant: Calvert-Lewin goals.
It has been six years since he was in scoring form like this, a distant memory for Everton fans. There will be no desire for a trip down memory lane when Calvert-Lewin returns on Monday night, though.
Watch Everton vs Leeds United on Monday Night Football, live on Sky Sports from 6.30pm; kick-off 8pm.
