Everton FC correspondent Joe Thomas takes a look at the state of play at the club heading into the final week of the transfer window
The future of Dominic Calvert-Lewin is set to be the major focal point at Everton as the transfer window enters its final days. A busy summer has seen high profile arrivals and departures at Goodison Park but it is the story that has rumbled on since June that looks set to persist through to Friday night.
Calvert-Lewin has started both games this season and therein lies the problem for Sean Dyche and those around him. The 27-year-old has entered the final 12 months of his contract and is yet to sign fresh terms that have been offered to him but remains Everton’s most important forward.
Should the club lose him at this late stage of the summer it would undermine a team that has already laboured in front of goal - mustering just two shots on target across more than 180 Premier League minutes. Yet would the club be able to turn down serious money for a player who would be free to leave next summer? Dyche has already answered that question
“Any offer of a certain level would have to still be looked at by the club,” he said at Finch Farm last week. “We're in a better position because of how much we bought in player trading and how much we've lowered the wages, but it's not solved.
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“So therefore there would still be a moment where the big people at the club get a phone call and go ‘right, here's the reality, we've been offered this’. Then it's down to them. I can obviously give a football opinion, but I think we all would go ‘you don't need to be selling anyone at the minute’. But that doesn't mean that that happens. The powers that be are still not in a position where we just go ‘no, no, we're fine, we can start bankrolling the club and we're going to sign players’, as you can quite obviously tell.”
Having such a tough call to make is dependent on an offer of substance being made over the coming days and, while there are claims Newcastle United might revive their interest from earlier in the summer, there is no guarantee that will happen. That could be good news for the Finch Farm side of the business at least. Calvert-Lewin has suffered problems with injuries and dips in form over recent seasons but his all-round play is an important part of Everton’s tactical approach even when he is not scoring.
And the flurries of goals when they have come have been invaluable - as they were in April when he hit form to help Everton to safety and a memorable Merseyside derby win.
Beyond the Calvert-Lewin situation, the most predictable subjects of interest from within the Blues squad are Neal Maupay and Mason Holgate. Both players spent last season on loan and have barely featured during the season to date. Maupay is being monitored by Marseille, which has had a loan bid rejected - essentially for technical reasons. Maupay’s contract expires next summer but Everton have an option to extend the deal by 12 months.
The club would prefer not to leave itself in a situation whereby it had to trigger that extension in order to be eligible for a fee for the player. The French outfit, which has already worked with Everton this summer over the sale to the Blues of Iliman Ndiaye, has reportedly been told a bid of around £6.5m would be required to seal a permanent deal for a club looking for support after its key forward suffered a serious injury earlier this month.
Holgate’s future looked uncertain before Everton’s defeat to Tottenham Hotspur but the decision to give teenager Roman Dixon a debut ahead of Holgate, who while an imperfect solution to the problem on the right of the defence is still a player with 137 Premier League appearances who has previously played right back for Dyche, cast further doubt over the 27-year-old’s future.
The recent intrigue around Everton’s efforts to strengthen has focused on the right side of the defence with Kieran Trippier a player of interest to the Blues. Having lost the captaincy at Newcastle United and his starting place, the England defender is a player said to be searching for first team football he would probably find at Everton.
But with limited resources available it is open to doubt whether the Blues would seek to move for a player in an area where Dyche considers the problems to be short-term. He had a tough call to make against Spurs but Ashley Young will return from suspension for Bournemouth and there is a hope Seamus Coleman is close to a recovery from a calf issue while Nathan Patterson is edging towards a return from hamstring surgery.
Amid the Trippier links Dyche said of the right back situation: “You can never guarantee with injuries but we think that after [Spurs] we will have strength coming back. Youngy will be available again, Seamus has made good progress this week so he is likely to be around it again.
“If it was about right-backs specifically it has got to be something that could build the team going forward, not just for one game. But any good players - if they are available, I am not sure we have the money available to sign all these players we keep getting linked with but we seem to keep getting linked with them… If we had some money and we could look across the market at players, we would look at many different positions, but we wouldn’t be looking at right-back straight away because of the players we have got here.”
Central midfield remains an area where Everton are light. Amadou Onana and Andre Gomes departed the club this summer, with Tim Iroegbunam joining from Aston Villa and starting the first two matches. The signings of Iliman Ndiaye and Jesper Lindstrom also provide Dyche with the ability to drop Abdoulaye Doucoure deeper - an option he has not yet taken.
Director of football Kevin Thelwell has placed an emphasis on attacking wide players while thought will need to be given this week to what options would be available should Calvert-Lewin depart - conversations over a contingency plan would be wise.
But Dyche has moved to temper expectations about Everton’s ability to strengthen further after veteran goalkeeper and free agent Asmir Begovic became the sixth addition of the summer last week.