MY SCHOOL OF HARD KNOCKS
Calvert- Lewin explains how he ‘ enjoyed getting beaten up’ during non- League loan
DOMINIC CALVERT- LEWIN might just be the antidote to a nation growing increasingly sick of the coronavirus transgressions of its footballers.
For all the good that some of England’s stars have done during lockdown – from Marcus Rashford’s free school meals campaign to Jordan Henderson galvanising financial support for the NHS – recent headlines have been less savoury.
After Mason Greenwood and Phil Foden broke isolation rules in Iceland to meet up with two local girls in a hotel room in September, three of the England squad spent last Saturday night at a party to jeopardise their chances of playing in the current triple- header.
Once again, overly- privileged Premier League players seem to operate beyond the reality faced by the rest of us. Luckily, there have always been plenty of people in Calvert- Lewin’s life ready to knock him down a peg or two – not least when he was sent out on loan from Sheffield United early in his career.
“Did my spell on loan in nonLeague football toughen me up?” the 23- year- old Everton striker said. “I don’t know if you can see – I’ve still got the scar under my eye from the first 20 minutes of playing for Stalybridge.
“It was from a throw- in and I went to flick it on and he’s gone ‘ bang’ and head- butted me in the face. I played the rest of the game with one eye because that one closed up.
“I’ve always felt I’ve enjoyed the physical battle and enjoyed the tough tests.
“I went on to score two goals in that game and I enjoyed getting beaten up, to be honest.
“But that experience at the time – it was the most that I had
I’ve still got scar from time with Stalybridge
ever enjoyed my football up to that point.
“It gave me that sense of what it was to play in front of fans and to play proper men’s football and play for three points.
“Sometimes when you go through the academy, everything’s quite nice and easy.
“Then you realise that players are playing to put food on the table, they are playing for three points and it means that much more.
“At 17, it was definitely what I needed. Definitely a catalyst in propelling me forward and helping me get here.”
Right now “here” is top of the Premier League with the Toffees and in line for his first England cap against Wales tomorrow, with Harry Kane likely to be rested and Tammy Abraham standing down for his weekend misdemeanour.
Both achievements have been built on a sudden glut of nine goals in six games – a run that has led to his club manager Carlo Ancelotti comparing the youngster with his former AC Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi.
“Funnily enough, he mentioned it to me before he said it in the press,” said Calvert- Lewin.
“So I had a little YouTube of his goals and watched a 15- minute reel of him.
“A lot of his goals are one- touch finishes, he’s got great movement, you can always learn.”
Inzaghi’s finishing school sounds a lot less painful than CalvertLewin’s earlier school of hard knocks.
And thanks to a few toughening- up lessons picked up along the way from one of Everton’s legends and Ancelotti’s assistant coaches, neither the National League North nor the international stage daunts him.
“Everybody has Duncan Ferguson down for this big angry man, but he’s a nice guy when you actually get up close with him,” Calvert- Lewin insisted.
“He just told me to back myself more and believe in my stature. Now I enjoy being a presence in the box.” No airs, no graces, just a good old- fashioned No9.