Chris Sutton has suggested that Everton simply cannot trust Dominic Calvert-Lewin, as he claimed that the Toffees may struggle to convince a striker to join this summer.
Sutton was speaking on The Monday Night Club after Everton ensured that they would be staying in the Premier League with a final day win over Bournemouth at Goodison Park.
Abdoulaye Doucoure was the man to score the decisive goal, potentially writing his name into Everton folklore after being frozen out under Frank Lampard.
Sutton says Everton can’t trust Calvert-Lewin
Of course, Everton started the game without a recognised striker. And that would have added to the nerves after Leicester took a lead against West Ham which lifted them out of the bottom three.
Only Wolves scored fewer goals than the Toffees this term. And only one player in the Everton squad managed more than five goals.
It proved to be another frustrating season for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, with the striker managing just 17 appearances in the top-flight due to injury. He only managed to score twice in that time also.
Calvert-Lewin showed what a threat he could be with a masterful performance against Brighton in the 5-1 win. But Sutton admitted that Everton simply cannot rely on the 26-year-old to stay fit.
“It’s alright saying we need a striker. Who’s going to want to sign for Everton? Calvert-Lewin, you just can’t trust him,” he told The Monday Night Club.
“He had those run of games where they ended up tearing Brighton apart. You talk about 34 goals all season, and five of those were in one game at Brighton.”
It is going to be fascinating to see what Everton can do this summer. They have previously been restricted due to their heavy spending in years gone by.
But they have had two warnings now. They stayed up on the final day this year. And they were not able to get themselves out of trouble a lot earlier last season either.
So they have to find some way to bolster the squad in several areas.
And if they do not sign a much better striker this summer, they will be left rolling the dice on Calvert-Lewin finally putting his injury issues behind him.