Everton to offer Calvert-Lewin new contract

A no from me at the minute.

Personally, I hope he agrees. Given the proper service and if he does what Ancelotti said “stay in the box” he'll be back in the England squad – unfortunately!

His injury woes over the last three seasons have simply emphasised what a valuable player he is to us when fully fit, whilst his goalscoring droughts have largely been caused dreadful service.

There cannot be another forward in the Premier League who had such a thankless task or got worse service. Often he cut an isolated figure who had to make his own chances.

Really good efforts were described as "sitters" while the top strikers in the country were getting away with missing far more and far easier chances.

The "Championship at best" forward will of course attract interest. That's obvious to anybody who understands the game, but he has well and truly had the Anthony Gordon treatment and that will almost certainly influence any decision he makes.

I expect the outcome to be the same as Gordon's. He will move, prove what a really good player he is, and his critics will simply shrug their shoulders and move on to the next target.

Beto'll be shitting himself.

Countless examples of him being played through into brilliant scoring chances… but so often he just can't shoot properly.

Nothing to do with 'dreadful service'.

There is no “dreadful” service… There is “No” service!!!!!

Dave is right. He has little, if any, support up front. Yes, he misses chances – but what striker doesn't?

A bit like Harrison. Unfortunately these days it's not what you do with the ball it's what you do without it.

Obviously I don't know but I bet, if you ask every player at Everton what they think of his contribution, they'd be giving top marks.

A great asset that, like Branthwaite and Pickford, we have to keep.

Inzaghi was not a great player, but one touch finish he's a menace.

I'm still of that opinion. We need a No 9 who can operate for a full season and hit the back of the net regularly, not just poking in 4 or 5. A move will help Dom regain confidence, particularly in a team that is going to give him more support up top. If whatever deal is done for him is worthy, it will also be good for our PSR.

With the best will in the world… a new contract is not what is needed.

Was he capable of scoring another 5 games last season? Probably. That's 1 in 2 ratio.

Id keep him and risk losing him for nothing in 12 months time. I think his value of keeping us in the Premier league till the new stadium is greater than transfer fee.

His salary demands must determine if his contract is extended.

If he doesn't sign then we may be forced to sell him this summer, and it'll be for a reduced fee based on him entering the final year of his current contract. If he decides to stay and play out the final year of his contract, then the likelihood is that the club will have lost a £40 million asset.

If I was Thelwell, I would be incentivising him to sign, and giving him the flexibility that he would probably be seeking; release clauses etc. Even if it would mean him signing a new contract with a view to a transfer next summer, that might mean that we got full value for him – whatever that might be – but surely more than the £25 million being quoted for him right now.

And we'd also get another season of him at the club, hopefully helping to see us into the new stadium as a Premier League club.

I was wondering about salary.

Seems he's currently on £100k pw — which I thought would have been our self-imposed cap going forward into a new era of austerity.

Which should mean it would be virtually impossible for the club to give the lad and his blood-sucking agent what they want… probably between £130k and £150k pw.

So, in today's current logic, this story, like yesterday's about the club being financially sound and not needing no fire-sale of players for PSR, is pure bunkum.

It's almost entirely down to quality of service delivered to any striker and DCL is dining on crumbs, whereas many at other clubs fare on much better supply every week.

Newcastle would be getting him for a good price if he can stay fit. Can he though? I'm happy to see him go if we can reinvest the money, I suspect he's fallen out of love with the club and, as he's on the vain side anyway, he's unlikely to forget the various criticisms that have been flung his way the last couple of years.

Does he need a partner up front or a decent feed from the wings and central midfield? All ifs and buts until season starts… but it's all down to finances, where – whether they say it or not – sales are going to happen.

The tricky thing is he will want a raise on his already high wage at a time where desperately need to cut costs. And of course we have no idea if he actually wants to stay.

Hopefully he can be persuaded to stay on a similar contract. Perhaps with a decent release clause above the £30M mark which is what a striker being paid around £100k per week might expect to fetch.

My view is that getting him to sign a new contract is a no brainer as we don't want to lose him on the cheap now nor on a free in 12 months' time irrespective of how good we think he is.

I believe and hope he will have one of his best seasons next year.

There is something badly wrong there. Even on existing wages, we are not getting value for money plus we are continually shelling out for whatever injuries need to attending to. So nothing has changed then.

We seem to be content with continuing with our old ways. So be it if that is the way we are going to go but I thought we were about to enter a new era. It seems not. Maybe someone can explain that because I can't see any logic there.

I'm not sure were Dominic would go. Maybe Newcastle? Possibly West Ham?

When fit and firing, he is asset to the team. A prolific goalscorer? No. But the past few seasons like a lot of our forward players, he's often cut a solitary up there with little supply or support.

Anyway, he's ours for now. I hope he re-signs.

We haven't got a pot to piss in so who would we get for the money that’s better?

I’d be glad for him to sign.

Our issue is paying Maupay, Holgate, Keane,
and Alli £50-100k each for absolutely nothing.

When he has confidence and service, he is excellent.

Let's be pragmatic here. He's had injury (and for me, confidence) issues but he looks to be coming out of the other side.

At 27, he's in his prime as a striker and, if he can stay injury free, could be entering a very good time.

My question is, for the £25M quoted, are we certain to get a striker of the same calibre who actually loves the club and will actually play that lone striker role as well? I don't think so.

If he ends up earning £130k a week, then he's obviously performing.

Dominic I think started feeling the love of the fans and being wanted again by the manager and the club. Next season could easily be his most prolific one, I feel. Keep him, and allow Chermiti to come on this season. I have got a really good feeling about this lad.

Service or not, his record of converting expected goals was one of the worst in the Premier League last season. That said, when he is on the pitch, the team play better and, let's face it, we couldn't afford a decent striker even if one was stupid enough to want to come here.

Er, are you forgetting the choices we have?

But I've often wondered if we bought two strikers at the same time because he was always injured? Or just to take the tired target man off after an hour?

So, on that basis alone, I hope Dom signs a new contract!

Sign him!

I personally think that Calvert-Lewin has dealt with the criticism admirably. He is not the world-class Number 9 we all dream of but, if it was up to me, I'd want to get him signed up ASAP.

An average player in an average team. Still better than our other options though.

He is good with his head, but his on-the-ground shooting ability is poor. Maybe his supply ball isn't the best, but he does not help with the lack of basics.

Ancelotti tried to remedy this by bypassing these weaknesses with the one-touch approach. Calvert-Lewin increased his goal tally, but did not stick with it, or listened to someone else at Everton.

A lot of Calvert-Lewin's problems, both in football and physical health, stem from being pushed forward as a centre-forward at the price of his football development in a basket-case scenario. He has always worked hard at the physical aspect of his training.

I do think that both Beto and Chemiti have a better grounding in basics and can develop.

Do I think he will be offered a new contract? Yes, I do, but if an offer comes in, he will be gone. I expect him to be at Everton next season, he has supporters in the club.

Good Luck to him.

Fucking hell...

Whatever needs to be done financially this Summer, the last consideration should be breaking up the Pickford, Tarkowski, Branthwaite trio.

Anyway, the club did sign 2 forwards last year. Let's see how good they are.

That is an obscene salary – even having regard to the relatively short "life" of a footballer. That is much more than many of us will earn in a lifetime. So, from my perspective, I want players who want to play for Everton.

If Dom is happy to stay, I am sure he will survive on £5.2M per year. I will be very happy if he does stay but he does need support and a winger who will cross the ball to be truly effective.

If he chooses to go elsewhere, not for the money, but for the potential to play at or near the top level, then I would wish him well.

Get him signed on the dotted line as soon as possible, please.

We get, let's say £25M for him and how much extra do we pay for a "better" striker when we haven't got a pot to piss in???

Calvert-Lewin gets, I don't know, £100k a week. How much will a "better" striker want? Surely more. Great for our reducing costs.

We have been told we need to sell but surely someone who contributes less and can probably be cheaper and more easily replaced (Onana) should be considered before Calvert-Lewin.

Like all supporters, I want the best for our club, the best players; unfortunately, since The World's Greatest Evertonian got involved, we have been on a downward trajectory and that includes us being able to get the best players.

The last top goalscorer we got was Lukaku and apparently he was shite and not good enough for us.

We will not be able to afford a comparable, ready-made replacement even if we could attract one. For that reason, I hope he signs up and soon.

On form, I love Dom, we all do, but he has had 2 seasons injured and needs to prove himself again.

The problem is that we've seen how good they are. That's why we'd prefer Dominic to sign.

So, unless the likes of Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal, Liverpool or Chelsea (forget Spurs, they're not a big club) come in for him, then it's the club that offers him the biggest salary he will join, should he decide to leave. So stay where you are, Dom, cos you'll not get better elsewhere.

Unless of course, he gets offered higher wages.

Besides, his aerial ability and work rate are vital to Dyche's system -- not in attack, but in defense. A team with so little possession requires an outlet, a release when under pressure, and Dom is it. When we clear a long ball out of the back and he wins it, he prevents it from coming back in.

And Dom is also our best defender in what was formerly a weakness -- set pieces. Did you know he had 68 defensive clearances this season? That's amazing for a forward. He seems to put his head on every incoming corner kick.

Beto could replace Dom if we sell, but not as effectively. Keep him.

The ball is in his court now and, although he is saying all the right things, he will be judged by his actions at this very precarious time in our future.

Hopefully things are happening behind the scenes as it quickly (now) starts to get to the end of the road for 777 Partners; otherwise, I think Dominic will be off, alongside Branthwaite.

His all-round contribution is just too valuable. Let's face it, if he left, we'd probably replace him with Chris Wood. Now that's a scary thought.

"Beto could replace Dom" is something which should never be seen in print or otherwise, even if I've taken the liberty of selective quoting.

Dominic Calvert-Lewin is a gifted footballer. Some of the things he does are top notch but unfortunately go way above the heads of a lot of ToffeeWebbers.

Comparing him to Beto is like comparing… suggestions welcome.

Not sure we play enough to his strengths, which is mostly aerial... he is top class in that. We need to be more direct. Howard Wilkinson style!

I would think he would jump at a further term, remembering what happened to his mucker Davies whatshisname. Where is he now?

No-brainer getting him signed up and, if he manages to get somewhere between 15-18 goals next season, the money clubs will soon be after him again and we can sell for a bigger fee.

He starts when fit because we can't find or afford another mid-table striker.

Highly unlikely the established elite will take him so, unless one of the other mid-table outfits offer him oodles of cash, he'll stay.

Its vital that Everton can keep the strong spine of players, they have from GK, Tarks, Branthwaite, Gana, McNeil and DCL but trade aggressively on any transfers in and out.

What this Everton squad achieved last season, was a miracle, of fighting adversity and never giving up.

Evertons fortunes off the park, will hopefully be transformed soon.

UTFTs!

Dom is a gifted athlete. He is not by any stretch a gifted footballer by PL standards. He cannot shoot or create his own shot off the dribble, only on the turn. Top goals we saw from guys like Solanke and Watkins are beyond his capabilities.

And this just one of many, which, by the way, don't tend to highlight his footballing skills of which he has aplenty IMHO.

From what I have seen of Beto so far, he is rather poor. (And, as you know, I prefer to be understated.)

Pete #69, thanks for the laugh. Yes, understatement is at the very top of the character traits I cherish in you. Anyway, Beto played less than half the minutes he was accustomed to, and it took him a while to adjust to the Premier League's physicality and the fact he couldn't overpower people as he did in Italy. I think he can do an adequate job.

If you want more you'll have to move - if anybody wants you.
Just as nobody really knows what's going on off field, nobody knows what the player really wants.
Either or both of these two things are known unknowns.

Getting him signed up for a decent price helps both parties.
We can, in theory, max his sale price with a 4 yr deal in play and when it comes down to it player power tends to suggest, if he really wants to he can, in effect, leave.

There is nothing that keeps a defence deep and on the back foot as a striker that can run into space, get in front of his marker on the turn and finish.Otherwise you end up with a isolated Centre forward, playing deep and a deterioration in confidence of playing the ball to him.

A winger looking up to pass the ball with the defender in front of his team mate attacker, with space beyond and the attacker heading in another direction.What type of opportunity is that for a good cross or pass?

He's not a great finisher and never will be but I don't see us acquiring a better all round striker. One thing is for sure - a guy who isn't a great finisher won't improve by spending 90% of the game chasing into corners and following up his own flick ons.

At 27 you would think he's primed for a move to a side that will give him a chance at playing as a striker with support rather than the first defender. And his best bet at doing that will be to not sign a new contract.

I'm aware he spent his first 2 seasons playing mainly out wide, but he had an uncharacteristively productive season under Ancelotti.

So 1 in 4 is his average. To my mind, he's an average striker. A new contract on average wages would be good. Anything more would be a bit of a joke.

There is an issue of supply. While you can laugh it off pointing out moments of unbrilliance, one cannot argue that he has received consistent and convertible opportunities as it was in the Carlo era.

If he is willing, give him more games like we played down the stretch. I believe Dom wil take it up a level. The proper point here as alluded to above is that we would benefit from him remaining for this transitional phase. We have something that works well with him in place. Let’s develop there and produce another system approach to further perplex opposing teams.

1) that Dom still has injury issues: he doesn’t. He played 38 games last season and 32 of those were in the league

2) we shouldn’t offer Dom increased wages - this is just economic naivety: there’s market standard and if we want to protect the financial asset then we have to offer at least market standard wages. So if he’s currently on £100K a week then it might be that we have to offer £130K per week

At the very least it will enable us to sell him next season for say £40M rather than say £25M this summer

Please chaps & chappettes, let’s at least be sensible when we post

I think it comes down to the assessment whether his injury is fully behind him. If so, a contract extension makes sense to hold his sales value.

DCL's camp now has 2+ weeks to consider and negotiate. If he signs, great. If he doesn't want to sign by the 14th, Thelwell can still have enough time to start a bidding war, try squeezing as much from the Barcodes &/or others and close a deal by the end of the Financial Year (June 30th).

And I think to myself, what a wonde.....no, it isn't, just a coincidence that we might again have to be saved by the same amount.

His xG this season was 12.9, from which he scored 7 goals. That's 54% of the number of goals you would expect a striker to score from the chances that were presented to him.

By comparison Maupay scored 6 from an xG of 7.2 (83%).

Some other front men from teams at the lower end of the table:

Solanke 19 goals from 19.6 xG (97%)
Morris 11 goals from 11.4 xG (96%)
Mateta 16 goals from 10.9 xG (147%!)

So take this season in isolation, and it certainly looks like we have a striker who is not going to convert as many chances as he should - which is a big problem for a team whose wide men and midfield don't chip in with many goals either!

However, if you go back to the 20/21 season, which was the last time he was relatively injury-free (starting 32 league matches), Dom scored 16 from an xG of 16.3 (98%).

This shows that he can do it. And 4 goals in his last 7 games this year - from an xG of 3.4 (118%) - shows that perhaps he was getting back to some sort of form towards the end of the season. This could point towards better things to come next season, particularly if he can get a full pre-season under his belt.

Perhaps his poor form earlier in the year was a result of still trying to manage his come-back from a couple of injury-plagued seasons.

So in summary, get him signed, he's going to start banging them in for fun again next season!

On the other hand, considering he cost so little and has one year left on hi contract, if we sold him to Newcastle for say 20 million would it make a big impact on our PSR compliance and help us keep Branthwaite?

We do tend to over-analyse football these days.

I like to keep it simple.

He's had a tough time coming back from injury, but when fit, he does a job for the team. His goal in the derby was out of the traditional centre forward text book manual. He was very unlucky against Arsenal, hitting the post and then the side netting.

Let's face it we're not signing a new centre forward any time soon. Now he's back up and running, the goals will come.

Beto gives us something different. He's a proper handful.

Goals can be spread around the team. Sorry for the nostalgia, but the last time we won the league, our highest goalscorer was not a striker and hit 14 goals.

Duncan Ferguson, a lot of people's idols hit just over 50 goals in more than 200 appearances for Everton. It would be interesting to figure out the so called xG on that. I can't be bothered to work it out. He had an impact on the team, even if his indiscipline and losing his head used to frustrated me.

We used to rely on Tim Cahill for goals. Probably the only true goal scoring striker we've had in recent times in Lukaku. But still some called him lazy!!

Dominic has had a tough time recently. Injuries and although I don't know, there seemed to be some mental health issues in the background. They are probably linked.

But watching him lately, he looks a lot happier, so let's hope for him to get back on top of his game after his recovery.

And get in the box!!

It's a bit of a gamble but I'd rather he found that form with us.

Negotiate, sign and keep. If we need that money, use Onana. He might flourish elsewhere and I'd rather keep, but right now he is dispensable in a footballing context.

100% correct.

xG Is just another "thing" created to take the spontaneity, ethereal quality out of football for those who are being brainwashed by apps and data.
You only have to look at the number of phones up in front of faces when the ball goes out for a throw in or corner.

xG aint all that and it's not all seeing and 100% correct.

If xG is your goto "thing" then you're just being turned into someone lacking in the ability to think for themselves.

Life, not just the game, is being ruined by the overuse of technology which some people panic about if they don't feel they're right up with it.

In this decent weather we've had lately I've seen a lot of young mums pushing their kids in their prams in the sunshine. Most of 'em have their faces buried in their mobiles (cellphones for our cousins).

It's really sad, just as it is looking around to see loads of people at the match on their phones constantly when the game's going on (I know some of our football's been shite like).

So to summarise, you can stick yer xG where the sun don't shine.

Look up, think freely, get a life!

My phone stays in my pocket during the match other than to check the scores at half time and message my brothers and son at the end. I go to watch the football. Unless I get an emergency call from home.

And yes, people are glued to their phones. I sit and watch them in bars and restaurants and often wonder how they have conversations.

It's the same when I walk the dogs. You see some owners who wander around on their phone whilst their dog is somewhere that they are oblivious to. I don't even take mine with me. I don't need it to walk the hounds. In need to keep my eye on them and foxes!!

I don't buy him and Gordon were given that much stick from fans, "so why would they want to stay". These players are paid fortunes and also kicked by 6ft 6 centrebacks who would kick anything that moves.

All players playing in the Prem will take stick from there own fans when they don't perform or the team doesn't. Sometimes it may go to far but playing for Everton is a honour. Players not hitting the heights they are capable of need reminding, if they cannot respond on the pitch then maybe they should become somebody else player as weak players don't belong at Everton.

When I read people asking for AI to help our very poor human referees, it does make me wonder how long it is before this species has amused itself to death?

I'm being serious; I sometimes listen to the way Siri responds to some of my questions and I think those robots have definitely got a plan to take over the planet because everything seems to be about speed and technology, nowadays.

Maybe I just have an old phone or use the same network as Kevin "the liar" Bacon.

Getting booed off with a fractured cheek bone. After years of service, we still don't have a decent song for him. His mate Davies left on a free last season.

I would be surprised if he stayed unless we offer him the wages that Gomes was on.

Normally, I wouldn't be bothered about him leaving but, in our situation, he is our best option up top. Beto, Maupey and Chermiti don't come close.

DCL was played all over the place ( not center forward) in the early years. Remember Ferguson on the telly during his brief stint screaming at him to stay center forward ? He couldnt get him to do it. The player had been used here there and everywhere.

Carlo Ancelotti was a serial winner. He had more authority. DCL did as he was told and allowed to do. He scored 36 goals.

This what really annoys me; Every Evertonian knows DCL spent two seasons suffering health issues due to desperate managers sending him out KNOWING he was injured. They know it was to the detriment of the player...but they still count it as two poor seasons.

I get down listening to people compare him unfavorably to players like Ollie Watkins and DominIc Solanke. Lets look at that.

DCL Age 27. Scored 54 EPL goals.

Solanke Aged 26. Scored 29 EPL goals

Watkins Age28 Scored 59 EPL goals

Unlike the other two, DCL has not had the luxury of playing only as an out and out striker. Unlike the other two, He has not played in attacking teams. Unlike the other two, he had virtually two seasons written off by managers who cared nothing for his health. Unlike the other two he cost next to nothing. (they cost a combined 50m)

He betters them in every department. He will definitely score more top flight goals than them Despite his health issues and not getting the service they get. - Form temporary. Class permanent and all that...And don't get me started on the 70m clown across the park, or the fella at Spurs. The signing of Calvert-Lewin knocks the signings of these players into next week.

The guy has got off his the injury table to score goals that have saved this club hundreds of millions. He will never be Jimmy Greaves, but he has a sublime first touch (thats what makes a footballer). He works tirelessly and unselfishly for a team in which no striker could be prolific.

XG ????...Dear me

Only Everton fans could be split on this, he is when fit a top no 9, one of the best headers of the ball in the PL and we are lucky to have his quality in the side. Only we could mull this over in the dire circumstances we are in and wonder if keeping him is a good idea!

As someone else said, he will go to Newcastle and prove all the haters wrong.

Due to his injury record and 1yr left on his contract we are likely to only be able to command £30-£35m for him, the only reason to sell is that we can buy someone equally as good or with potential for around £15-£20M, well we all know how that usually turns out for us.

Some Everton fans seem to think he should be getting on the end of his own crosses after he chases long balls sent down the flanks. Perhaps he should also be able to pick up his own headed flick ons from Pickford's long goals kicks. He'd need to as there usually isn't an Everton player within 10 metres of him.

As for his major quad injuries, he should have been able to shake them off with a bit of stretching and an injection. But, then again Benitez demanded just that and ensured he missed 2 seasons of football.

In the Dyche set-up - which is necessary yet again to avoid relegation next season - it's what you do off the ball and defensively that's important as what you do with the ball.

In a perfect world, we'd be able to upgrade on DCL. But in the real world it's him or Beto. Not even a serious question for me.

Watkins has 59 goals and 26 assists in 146 appearances, he's only played 4 seasons in the PL. He also has around 50 goals in the Championship.

Whereas DCL has 54 goals and 14 assists in 214 appearances over 8 seasons in the PL. He's never played in the Championship.

Solanke is not yet in the same league as either overall though did just score 19 goals in one season (3 more than DCL has ever managed).

I'm a big fan of DCL but I couldn't honestly say he betters them in every department. Watkins is definitely much more creative, though as you say it obviously helps playing in a better team. And I believe Solanke is probably a more natural finisher.

Neither compares to DCL in the air certainly and that is why there is probably no striker in the PL better suited to the way Dyche wants to play. I highly doubt we will find a better striker than him if he leaves.

When Silva went on the 8 game winning streak at the end of his first season DCL gave the gooners defence a torrid time IMO.

Now be careful; or your stalker will be back on calling you Darren LOL

One woman was on the bus yesterday and her phone went, her sister was calling her apparently asking her what time she’d be home, she replied she didn’t know as she was in the bus stop and the bus was unreliable, it could be ages before it came so it would be better if she came tomorrow morning— she mustn’t have been fussy about her sister because she was on the bleedin’ bus! Maybe that’s one advantage of mobiles it’s easier to tell porkies!

Calvert Lewin hasn't always played in shit Everton teams without any service either, thats unless james Rodriguez is shite.

Its not just Calvert Lewin, any Everton player and I'm not saying Calvert Lewin wants to go who wants out or cannot put in the effort then get rid. One bad apple and all that.

Nonsense to me, but maybe at 52 I am starting to get old and cynical?

Football is better judged by watching it.

As for mobile phones, I'm convinced most of the people I travel into London in the morning spend 45 minutes talking to someone they've just left the house with!!

Anyway, we can't afford to buy a proven Premier League goalscorer, let alone pay his wages, so we should keep Dom. He's happy here and fits in well, which counts for a lot. We wouldn't get much for him if we sold him, given our weak bargaining position, and it seems to me a slight increase in his wages would cost us a lot less than letting him go for free next year and having to buy a replacement.

"I hope Calvert-Lewin stays and doubt very much if we could buy better for the fee we receive for him."

There will be no reinvestment of funds into a replacement for Calvert-Lewin. If we sell him then that money will go into reducing our debts, and we will be almost entirely restricted to free transfers and loans when it comes to finding a replacement striker.

We saw how valuable he is to us in the last game of the season against Arsenal. As a lone striker, he tormented their defence. This was evident when he went off as we then showed no goal threat.

I for one hope he stays because he was showing signs at the end of the season of getting back to his best.

But equally without him, a Greaves or Lineker or Owen would only get 15.

He is crucial to the way we play.

Yes, strikers cost a lot but he hasn't scored that many so, either our style changes or he still won't score that many, presumably. He only scored 7 league goals, same as Doucoure.

All depends on the price for me. Anything over £60M and I'd sell. If it's the barcodes they can pay cash upfront (and send one or two the other way).

The likes of Luton and Sheffield Utd have strikers who scored more goals and would cost a lot less, so it's not like we can't find replacements.

So it measures if you as a striker are Harry Kane or Stuart Barlow.

He plays as a lone striker running the channels, is great in defence – what other striker in the league has to live off scraps and no wingers to provide service?

Can you tell me what striker we can buy for £25M who's better than Dom? Definitely not Beto.

Unfortunately, with just a year left on his contract, we might sell for about £30M to the likes of West Ham or Newcastle. Not unlike the sort of fees for the likes of Morris and Adebayo at Luton – as they seem to have longer to run on their contracts (albeit can't quite confirm this).

The more tempting option for him may be to see out his contract with us; and then get a move to a Rich 6 / Champions League club for free at the end of the season. He wouldn't be a definite starter, but he'd get plenty of games for such clubs – as per the likes of Loftus-Cheek at AC Milan.

He may then get the chance to see what he can do in a decent side – instead of waiting for non-existent supply from our right flank and the Premier League's clumsiest No 10 in Doucoure.

Ultimately he plays his role in the team very well for us and I hope he signs an extended deal. But I hope we use that period of 3 to 4 years to bring through the likes of Chermiti and gives us the chance to find and develop other young players of genuine talent (more so than Calvert-Lewin) in the forward positions.

Doucouré has not been playing as a Number 10 (in the traditional sense) and I suspect that you know that.

In the absence of a Number 10 Doucouré is just the central midfielder given the instruction and licence to support our loan striker. A Number 10 is a playmaker; that is not Doucouré's role in the team and never has been, so saddling him with the expectation/title of a Number 10 is disingenuous and is certainly not something Dyche has done.

Agree with you about Calvert-Lewin though. But Chermiti I do not hold out much hope for as things stand.

At times, Doucoure seems to run all over the pitch with no real aim.

But then he pops up and scores. The goal at Brighton within about 2 minutes. The beauty against Bournemouth that secured our safety.

He might not be the most graceful footballer, but his work rate and d attitude shouldn't be questioned from what I've witnessed.

But that sort of emphasises the point that the Number 10 Calvert-Lewin should be supported by in a 4-4-1-1 is (due to our lack of cash and quality) both clumsy and not even a Number 10.

I would love to see how Calvert-Lewin would fare in a team as well balanced as, say, Dortmund tonight with their pacy wing-forwards, attacking (and robust) full-backs, and a player like Brandt pulling the strings.

We can but hope that's us in a few seasons...

Were you impressed by Brandt last night? I can’t say I really noticed him doing anything out of the ordinary except actually wasting some promising possession with botched passes.

To me it was the ‘team effort’ you praise Dortmund for that had them controlling the game, far more than any stand-out individual display.

Steve (116), to say xG is ‘measured’ seems to be stretching the definition of what can be measured. Doesn’t ‘someone’ have to rate each chance on that 0 to 1 scale you mentioned and then calculate an overall e(x)pecked tally for the team for the game? At least that’s how I think they get those values to decimal places they show on MotD.

Basically if your xG is much bigger than your actual your missing gilt edged chances, if it’s the reverse you are scoring worldies or very spawny. In reality it’s generally nothing to get excited about.

Why are the journos so excited about Bellingham being ‘just 20’? Is he the youngest player ever to be in a team that won the European Cup? He certainly didn’t win it ‘on his own’ did he?

Good player and seems like a nice lad, but for pity’s sake cut the hype!

We have to raise cash. It won't be re-invested in the squad. You basically have to choose between one or more of Calvert-Lewin, Onana, Pickford and Branthwaite going. Very probably more than one. To pretend otherwise is, in my view, akin to a dog barking at the moon.

In my opinion, taking all factors into consideration, they are listed in the order I'd sell them. True, we won't optimise Calvvert-Lewin's value given his contract position and injury record, but we will book almost all the fee as pure profit.

In an ideal world, I'd keep him, especially given we have unfortunately bought a backup in Beto who doesn't inspire at all. Calvvert-Lewin is not a top Premier League striker but he is a serviceable one. However, our world is not remotely ideal right now. It's about least bad choices.

I just mean a player of his type who probes well, moves the ball forward, links up the attack, finds the runners on the flanks etc. We don't really have a player who does that - and we don't have any pace / quality at full-back or wing-forward to link up with.

Fullkrug gave Real's defence a hard time of it last night but he'd struggle in our side.

I think it was in a recent post by Mike Gaynes... let me take a look for it.

Ah yes, it was on the Kalvin Phillips Rumour thread – scroll down to @120.

True for the last 2 years.
Almost true for the last 4 years.

However, it is not really controversial to say that Doucoure is a very limited footballer. His main attribute is athleticism and he is very clumsy indeed on the ball. Despite his obvious effectiveness in one sense, he also makes a hefty contribution to our poor playing style.

I don't think we'd be weakened by replacing Doucoure with someone more talented - like Sigurdsson who we used to have in that position. Sigurdsson also worked hard and scored goals – but he also used the ball so much better than Doucoure and could create too and help us retain possession in the opponent's half.

Despite his effectiveness (and we owe him a debt for that Bournemouth goal) I hope that we find someone to replace him in the No 10 (ish) spot this season – even if that ends up being McNeil (with hopefully some pace / ability on the flanks finally).

It's not that we haven't lost with Doucoure in the team for 2 years.

The stat is that we haven't won a game in the last 2 years without Doucoure in the team.