Everton, throughout what has been a truly terrible past few years, have had far more villains forged than heroes.
After all, it has been a period of mass regression more than anything, with Farhad Moshiri’s years of mismanagement finally rearing its ugly head.
Innumerable financial errors deserved some punishment, but the fans did not, yet it was they who were chiefly punished when the Premier League twice deducted points last season.
Fortunately, one of the few people to make themselves a hero across this saga was on hand, with Alan Stubbs more than ready to challenge the division and Everton’s board too despite having played for the club across two spells.
Now, he has turned his frustration towards one player though.
Alan Stubbs reacts to Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s performance vs Brighton
Speaking live on talkSPORT (19/08, 9:45 am) the former Everton defender did not hold back in his assessment of his old club’s opening-day disaster against Brighton and Hove Albion.
First taking aim at Sean Dyche for failing to play his new summer signings, his attention then turned to Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who failed to make an impact on the game before receiving a mixed reception upon being subbed off.
The 27-year-old’s future remains up in the air with less than two weeks of the transfer window left to go, and with that in mind, Stubbs argued that the Toffees might be better cashing in on the forward rather than sticking with him and hoping he’ll sign a new deal and come good.
He claimed: ‘About Calvert-Lewin, I am not sure. I don’t think his body language is great. I think he looks like a player who maybe is looking elsewhere. And if that’s the case, then Everton need to cash in and move the sights to someone else.’
Calvert-Lewin has already rejected one Everton contract this summer.
Should Everton sell Dominic Calvert-Lewin this summer?
Given the England striker clearly is unsure of his Everton future, the signs do point towards pushing him towards the exit door rather than persisting with him.
After all, he has only really had two outstanding seasons for the club, with the first being a 13-goal haul during the 2019/20 season, and the second being a 16-goal campaign under Carlo Ancelotti.
Since then, he has not even come close to reaching such heights, with his form and fitness completely failing.
He is far from irreplaceable, and whilst his hold-up play is second to none, his profligacy is proving too big of an issue to overlook.
If they can get any kind of significant fee for him this summer, it might be too good to turn down, especially given Calvert-Lewin can just leave for free this time next year.
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