I’m as good as any Spanish wonderkid
DOMINIC CALVERT-LEWIN ON SCORING THE WINNER IN A WORLD CUP FINAL... AND HOW HE CAN HELP SAVE EVERTON
DOMINIC Calvert-Lewin is the scorer of the winning goal in a World Cup final. The reminder of that — his medal — is kept in a box at home on Merseyside.
But the first goal he ever scored in men’s football is arguably even more special and when he needs a reminder of that one, he only needs to look in the mirror.
On Boxing Day 2014, the young Everton striker played his first ever senior game, on loan from Sheffield United for Stalybridge Celtic. His temporary team — on a run of one win in 16 games in the Vanarama National League North — won 4-2 at their local rivals Hyde United and their 17-year-old loanee scored twice in two minutes.
‘It gives me goosebumps thinking about that first goal even now,’ Calvert-Lewin told Sportsmail yesterday.
‘It was the first time I had the feeling of scoring goals in front of fans and no matter what crowds I play in front of in the future, it will always be special.
‘It was a derby and a massive game for them. To go and do what I did was special.
‘I got smashed in the face with an elbow in the first 20 minutes. Blood everywhere. I still have the scar now, just under my eye.
‘As a young lad you think you are coming off but they were like, “No, stay on”.
‘Experiences like that toughen you up and if you look hard enough there is a video of those goals out there. I will occasionally watch them. It all helps for confidence.
‘The first goal was a follow-up. Our centre half hit a free-kick from the halfway line and it caught the keeper out, went over his head and hit the post.
‘It took an age to get to me. I tried to stay relaxed and then wheeled away after I had put it in, my first celebration. The second came straight from their kick-off. Left foot, bottom corner.
‘I think I actually “shushed” the Hyde fans after that one! I got lost in the moment.’
Calvert-Lewin has not had many moments to get lost in recently. Everton are in the mire ahead of tomorrow’s home game against Watford.
Eighteenth in the Premier League and without a permanent manager, their exit from the Europa League was confirmed with defeat at Lyon on Thursday. It is, we should note, only the first week of November.
Having got back from France at 1.30am yesterday, Calvert-Lewin’s attempts to get some sleep were not helped by workmen outside his apartment.
But you wouldn’t know it. The tall, lean centre forward ambled happily into our meeting yesterday with the look of a 20-year-old whose youth is maybe protecting him a little from the stresses and strains of the wrong end of the table.
Not so, he stressed. ‘I can’t say that this matters to me less than it would matter to someone older.
‘I feel a loss as much as anyone. I take it personally and wonder what I can improve on.
‘Every time we lose I just want to play the next one and win. I am here to score goals and I know I haven’t scored in the Premier League this season. ‘Confidence is a massive thing and ours has been knocked. You can’t crumble at a stage like this. Football will chew you up and spit you out if you let it. ‘So at this time I know I have to be mentally strong. You can’t say, “Oh I am just a young player”. You have to realise you are playing for a Premier League team for a reason and perform like you know you can. ‘We have the quality at this club and we just need to get some rhythm. I am sure that will start this weekend.’ Calvert-Lewin’s emergence as a Premier League talent has been
‘It still gives me goosebumps thinking of the first goal I scored for Stalybridge’
rapid and serves as a nod to old-school pathways.
Raised a Sheffield United fan by his dad Karlda, he was a seasonticket holder, academy scholar and also spent two seasons as a ball boy. After only 11 league starts for the Yorkshire club, he joined Everton in August 2016.
Beyond that, he is known now for the goal he scored against Venezuela as England won the Under 20 World Cup final in South Korea in August.
Since then the England Under 17s have followed suit. Suddenly, English age- group football is awash with talent.
So, what advice does CalvertLewin have for young World Cup winners such as Manchester City’s Phil Foden and Liverpool’s Rhian Brewster as they look to make sure they are not washed away by the Premier League’s tidal wave of foreign imports?
‘The key for me was believing that I would get to where I wanted to get to,’ he said.
‘ There are times when you question where you are at a certain stage, when someone the same age is making their debut and you are sitting on a bench somewhere thinking, “What’s happening to me?” But I always stuck to believing I would make my way and to be honest it happened sooner than I thought.
‘Something has definitely happened in young English football in recent years. It’s a big shift.
‘We are getting a lot further in tournaments. I don’t know what it was but something has been done many years ago and now we are seeing the results.
‘ There was a thing before about foreign players having priority over English players but with England winning tournaments, nationality shouldn’t be taken into account.
‘Just because you are Spanish, it doesn’t mean you have more technical ability than me, does it? We play a much more exciting brand of football now and have players at the top of the pitch who excite and express themselves. We have definitely caught up. It was surreal when we got back from Korea, being in all the newspapers.
‘Over there we were in a bubble and probably didn’t realise quite how big it was.
‘To score a winning goal was massive but football moves fast. It’s a nice thing to say that I have scored that goal, but I can’t really look back on it too much.
‘Don’t get me wrong, it will never leave me. It was a very proud moment and I probably watched the goal about a week ago.
‘It gives me a nice feeling to reminisce but I know that I have to keep proving myself.’
It won’t be long before players such as young Foden have decisions to make, to either stay at their parent clubs or venture out into the loan system.
Calvert-Lewin left for Stalybridge on the advice of his youth coach at Sheffield United and also played 20 loan games for Northampton in the 2015-16 season.
‘I was playing Under 18s but wasn’t in and around the Sheff U first team,’ he said.
‘So I went to Stalybridge, played five and scored six and loved it. I got called back to Sheffield and didn’t want to go! But I was then in the Sheff U picture, so I will never forget those six games for as long as I live.
‘You can score goals at youth level but men’s football teaches you things. It teaches you real football and you realise that this game is sink or swim.
‘I wouldn’t tell other players what to do. You have to listen to the people around you. But it worked for me and I am glad I have come the route I have come.’ THE MAN charged with getting Everton out of their predicament is caretaker manager David Unsworth, a man Calvert-Lewin knows well.
As the Under 23 coach at the club, Unsworth took part in the ‘ Goodison Sleepout’ last November. Along with Calvert-Lewin and other young players, Unsworth spent a night sleeping outside at the stadium to raise £230,000 for a supported living initiative for young people in Liverpool.
It was called the Home is Where the Heart Is campaign.
Next Friday, Everton are repeating the exercise to raise further money for some of their other projects.
Calvert-Lewin will be on England Under 21 duty in Ukraine but said: ‘To get the players doing that was special and it was good that Unsy was there too.
‘People sometimes think that footballers won’t do that stuff but we were more than happy to do it and the money went to a good cause.
‘It was a crazy experience. It was very cold and we definitely got the experience of what it is like to sleep outside.
‘It was weird seeing the coaches out there as well and good to know we were all doing it as a team.’
Unsworth has spoken of how that night helped to keep some of the club’s young players grounded. Now what he needs is someone like Calvert-Lewin to win him a match tomorrow.
Everton have won two of their last 16 games and lost their last five. ‘Unsy has brought his passion for the football club into the team and that has picked our spirits up,’ said Calvert-Lewin.
‘But we are not where we want to be. The criticism is fair and we have to take it on the chin and put it right. We have simply not been playing at the level expected of us.’
With last season’s top scorer Romelu Lukaku sold to Manchester United and not replaced, Calvert-Lewin has tried manfully to carry the burden. He revealed that he has been taking tips from Wayne Rooney on positioning and movement.
‘I can learn from him,’ he said. ‘I am right where I want to be here and I want to score goals for Everton and take us back to where we want to be.’
Certainly a goal would help both him and Everton. He has scored four this season but not in the league.
Maybe it’s time to dig out the YouTube footage of Boxing Day 2014? ‘Stalybridge was a very good club and the fans were good,’ he said with a smile.
‘And I had my first chant there! I won’t sing it but it went: “He’s only 17, the best we’ve ever seen… Dom Calvert-Lewin”.
‘The first time I heard it was unbelievable.’