Everton: Lampard 'desperate' for 'athletic' £72k-a-week star at Goodison Park

Everton manager Frank Lampard will be desperate to have striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin back, says journalist Pete O’Rourke.

The Toffees have been without the 25-year-old since the start of the season due to a knee injury, leaving them in a weakened position.

Calvert-Lewin hurt his leg just before Everton took on Chelsea at the beginning of this campaign.

“He’s had an injury in training,” Lampard told Sky Sports last month. “It was a bit of a freak injury in a really simple passing action.

“He felt a little bit of an issue with the outside of his knee but we’re assessing it at the moment so I’m not here to give you an absolute time frame on when he’ll be back.”

As a result, Calvert-Lewin has not been able to feature in any of Everton’s games so far this season. In his absence, summer signing Neal Maupay has started one match up front for the Toffees, the 0-0 draw against rivals Liverpool, while Anthony Gordon has also covered for him in that position.

O’Rourke thinks the game with Liverpool really exposed Everton’s lack of centre-forward options and believes Lampard will now be desperate for Calvert-Lewin to make a return.

Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, the journalist said: “I think it was pretty evident that Everton are short up front with the options they had on the bench as well as Calvert-Lewin’s injury, so I’m sure Frank Lampard will be desperate to have him back.”

Absolutely, and most teams in the Premier League would. The £72,000-a-week England international has proven to be a very capable striker at this level.

Calvert-Lewin only scored five goals last season. However, the campaign prior, when he was fully fit, he was hard to contain.

In total, the Everton man netted 21 times across 39 appearances in all competitions.

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