Saturday, 20 December 2025
The irony was not lost on Everton fans.
At the same time David Moyes’ depleted side were toiling unsuccessfully to overturn a 1-0 deficit at home against Arsenal after the concession of an early penalty, 65 miles to the east their former striker was helping Leeds United put Crystal Palace to the sword at Elland Road.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s double in that emphatic 4-1 win for Daniel Farke’s men made it seven goals for the season, and six in his last five games.
Everton were not the first team to struggle to find a way through a resolute Arsenal back line. They will not be the last, either.
But it was hard not to draw a comparison between Calvert-Lewin’s prolific form and the struggles of those he left behind at Hill Dickinson Stadium. At that stage, Beto, his former rival for the striking jersey, and summer signing Thierno Barry had just two Premier League goals between them.
In response, the tendency from some Everton supporters was towards revisionism.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin scores for Leeds United against Crystal Palace (Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
When Calvert-Lewin left the club last summer at the end of his contract, bringing to an end a nine-year stint on Merseyside, few tears were shed. There was gratitude for the role he had played, particularly at critical times — his headed winner against Palace in May 2022, which secured Everton’s top-flight status, is one of the most important in the club’s modern history — but also a consensus among supporters, and even some of those who knew him best, that things had logically run their course.
Nine years is a long time to spend at one club. Things can fizzle out. The 28-year-old missed large chunks of the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons with a hamstring problem and saw a similar issue sustained last January curtail his 2024-25 campaign. He had not reached double figures for goals since 2020-21, when he scored 16 times in the league under Carlo Ancelotti.
That is not to say that Everton did not at least make an effort to keep Calvert-Lewin on the books.
They offered him fresh terms in the summer of 2024, as he was about to tick into his final year, with then director of football Kevin Thelwell believing he could help provide much-needed continuity for a squad that was being primed for a considerable overhaul 12 months later.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin dives between Crystal Palace players to head home Everton’s critical winner in May 2022 (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
At that stage, the uncertainty around the club — a series of failed takeover bids had led to doom-laden predictions of financial implosion — and an overall lack of belief in the role he was being asked to perform under manager Sean Dyche left Calvert-Lewin unwilling to commit his future to the club.
Everton held more talks with the striker at the end of last season, but the two parties remained too far apart in their respective valuations for a deal to be reached.
Some of those involved in the process believed that he would have re-signed on the right terms. But the problem was that he wanted a considerable rise on his near £100,000-a-week salary which would have made him one of the club’s highest earners. Nobody at Everton, including owners The Friedkin Group, was prepared to make that commitment.
Calvert-Lewin has always seen himself as a player with the ability to compete at the top level of the game. In the summer of 2024, with a year left on his deal, Everton had explored the option of mutually beneficial ‘swaps’ — to adhere to the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules — involving the striker with Newcastle United, Chelsea and Manchester United.
One deal, which would have involved winger Yankuba Minteh moving the other way, was thwarted when Calvert-Lewin rejected the switch to Tyneside. Another swap involving Scott McTominay was mooted, but never got over the line. Interest from clubs of that size is likely to have fuelled his belief he could earn a high-profile move the following summer as a free agent.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin is a scorer for Everton against Liverpool in April 2024 (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Calvert-Lewin had been represented by agency giant Wasserman until close to the end of last season. But he cut ties and entered negotiations with clubs himself.
Articulate and affable, he impressed in many of those meetings. His wife Sandra is a key influence, but his move to Leeds was eventually handled by another major agency — SEG — with Calvert-Lewin now represented by the Amsterdam-based firm.
There had been concern from some of those familiar with Calvert-Lewin’s situation, speaking anonymously to The Athletic to protect relationships, that the high-level interest would not necessarily come or that he would be deemed too expensive. He ended last season still working his way back to fitness and trained alone until his move to Leeds in mid-August.
While he has always worked hard on his fitness and cared about his nutrition, nothing can quite replicate a proper pre-season with a club. That period, and his late start at Leeds, makes his subsequent form all the more remarkable.
In 20 games, he has scored nine times — already his best haul since that 2020-21 season. Between them, Barry and Beto have six.
As he gears up for his return to Everton on Monday, Calvert-Lewin is a player revitalised. Four-and-a-half years after the last of his 11 England caps, a return to the squad for this summer’s World Cup is back within grasp.
So how has Calvert-Lewin gone from regularly being one of the league’s biggest under-performers in front of goal to a consistent scorer?
That is the question most of an Everton persuasion have been asking since he embarked on his purple patch.
The below graphic tracks his non-penalty expected goals (xG) and his goalscoring rate using a 10-game rolling average. As we can see, the red line stays pretty consistent throughout, suggesting that he is adept at getting into dangerous positions, but the blue line has only really shot upwards this season, indicating that an improvement in his finishing is driving his form.
Calvert-Lewin is still slightly underperforming his xG (seven goals from 7.3 xG in open play) but his shot conversion has leapt to around 17.5 per cent from six per cent last season. The only other occasions on which it’s been above 15 per cent were in 2019-20 and 2020-21, his two best scoring seasons.
The big difference statistically this season is when it comes to the types of chances he is receiving.
The Sheffield United academy graduate has always been a very particular kind of striker who thrives on a specific kind of chance. He possesses smart movement in the box and is tall, powerful and possesses a prodigious leap, meaning he often dominates in the air. Rarely does he trouble goalkeepers from outside the box, but under Ancelotti in particular he operated between the width of the posts and became adept at finishing first time.
As the graphic below shows, Calvert-Lewin is getting into marginally better shooting positions than in previous years, with his xG per shot (0.18) up on previous seasons.
He’s averaging 1.9 first-time shots in the box per 90, the joint-highest of his career so far.
Including this season, Calvert-Lewin has 293 first-time shots in the attacking penalty area since 2018-19 — only Mohamed Salah (323) has more, and the Liverpool forward has played nearly 8,000 more minutes.
But Leeds have also moved to a move direct setup to maximise his threat, supplying him with a steady stream of crosses into the box. Around 45 per cent of his attempts have come with his head this season, which is up considerably on each of his last five seasons.
Towards the end of his time at Everton, he struggled for rhythm. At times, some internally questioned whether his contractual situation and uncertain future was leading to him snatching at chances.
The summer was a big chance for Calvert-Lewin and he has benefited from having a clean slate. He has settled down with his family over the last few years, getting married and becoming a father, while also changing agent and club. Those who know him well point to him taking charge of his own destiny and thriving due to his change of context.
There is a sense that leaving Everton has afforded him an opportunity to reset mentally and see himself in a different way, as something other than a player who was struggling with injuries.
Dominic Calvert-Lewin reacts after missing a chance for Leeds United against Fulham (Alex Livesey/Getty Images)
The move to Leeds, another big club where he would be seen as a talisman and adored by fans if he could score the goals to keep them up, was also seen as beneficial.
“I am pleased for Dom,” Moyes said earlier this season in a press conference. “I have had a really good relationship with him. I didn’t really get a chance to deeply work with him because of injuries — I only had one or two games with him.
“We just found the financials to be too much at the time and we chose to move on. It might have been the right time for Dom as well and I’m really pleased that he has sorted himself out.”
There is little doubt that those well-wishes and words of affection are genuine. There remains a fondness at Everton for Calvert-Lewin after his long stint at the club and important goals at key junctures. Barry, meanwhile, is finally starting to show signs of life as his replacement, scoring three goals in his last four Premier League games.
On Monday, though, they will hope their former charge does not remind them what they are missing.