As the late, great Alan Ball once said, “Once Everton touches you, everything changes.” Decades later, the sentiment still resonates.
Players past and present speak of the profound sense of belonging that comes with wearing the royal blue jersey. Everton has been the stage for many of the most productive years of their careers. In modern times, however, it has also often become a stepping stone, a place that stagnated before flourishing elsewhere.
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A move to Everton may have been a blessing, but this is not a charity club. Everton is one of the greatest institutions in English football, built on success, standards and fierce competitive ambition. The desire to return to the top remains, but Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s career clearly illustrates how far the club has strayed and what changes must be made to recover.
Calvert-Lewin’s record at Everton looks quite good at first glance: joining from Sheffield United for £1.5 million at the age of 19, he scored 71 goals in 273 games. On paper, this represents solid value.
Look closer, however, and a more disturbing fact emerges. The 18 months of Carlo Ancelotti’s reign were the most prolific of Calvert-Lewin’s career: 36 goals in 80 games over several seasons put him among the most efficient forwards in the Premier League.
Outside of that period, injuries and a long drought defined his time on Merseyside.
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Excluding the Carlo Ancelotti era, his goalscoring numbers have dropped to roughly one goal every six games – a figure that betrays how much his reputation was built on short-lived tactical tweaks. Since leaving Everton and joining Leeds United on a free transfer this summer, the 28-year-old has rediscovered his form: eight goals in 17 games and at least one goal in each of the last six games, which shows the striker’s rebirth.
Crucially, this pattern is familiar. Almost all of his goals were scored between the posts in the penalty area. At Everton, Calvert-Lewin was often asked to drift out wide, deep into the backfield, chase channels and survive off the scraps. Opportunities were limited, confidence eroded, and his body inevitably broke down.
In the right system, Calvert-LeVine thrived. Without it, his limitations are exposed and amplified.
This is not an isolated case. The only striker to truly thrive at Everton over the past decade is Romelu Lukaku – a world-class talent who transcends dysfunction.
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Many of the rest signed for high fees but failed to make an impact. The signings of Cenk Tosun, Neal Maupay and Berto were not inspiring and did not live up to expectations. Moise Kean left and rebuilt his reputation elsewhere.
The pattern is unmistakable. This is something Everton must address urgently, especially with Thieno Bari at the start of his Premier League journey. Hiring mistakes are important, but the deeper problem is a lack of identity and consistency.
Everton often fail to maximize their players’ strengths, instead forcing them into systems that breed hesitation rather than confidence. Years of upheaval, management changes and short-term thinking have stripped teams of creativity, balance and clarity.
Even on their good days, Everton looked stiff and predictable – a team that could easily be overpowered. Tough defense and brief individual moments saved the club from relegation, but survival is not the ceiling. Progress now requires a cohesive, targeted long-term transfer strategy.
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Everton must assess what they do well, recruit players to improve those qualities and fill the gaps wisely. The likes of Iliman Ndiaye, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Tyler Dieblin all have real offensive talent. The challenge is to build a team that complements and improves them.
The adage “the best defense is offense” is increasingly lost on Everton. They have been among the league leaders in blocks and saves in recent seasons, a statistic that tells its own story.
Everton’s defense is resilient and well-coached, but too passive elsewhere on the pitch. This imbalance is no longer sustainable. The next phase of recruitment must prioritize the attacking intent and technical quality of the entire team, not just survival.
Which brings us back to Barry. His potential is clear and his rise from France’s fifth tier to the Premier League in four years is impressive. His first season in England was always likely to be a learning curve. What matters now is his surroundings. There is no value in forcing him into a role that neither suits his strengths nor the long-term vision of the club.
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The next two transfer windows are crucial. Everton must stop dithering between strategies and commit to a coherent, sustainable and effective strategy. Only in this way can the club ensure that when Everton get in touch with players, it improves them and not the other way around.
Reader comments(5)
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It went viral, just like the mysterious Meg did in 1995 when she told everyone Everton would win the FA Cup!
In 1966, when Everton won the championship, it was the Chinese Year of the Horse. As we all know, twelve years is a cycle, and this is the fifth time since 1966 that we have entered the Chinese Year of the Horse.
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Although there are different types of horses, fire, wood, water, etc., just like 1966, this year is the year of the fire horse. This hasn’t been the Year of the Fire Horse since 1966 (I had to double check this), so this is the biggest omen yet that the Blues will win the trophy!
Happy New Year to everyone connected to ToffeeWeb, get out the fire water, celebrate the fire horse, and sing “We’re gonna win the trophy!” 😂😂
I really agree with you Matthew, I love watching promoted teams like Leeds United, with a cheaper squad, play with energy and appetite against Premier League opponents.
There’s a lot to like about being a neutral and I’m happy for Dom, this play style suits him but it may not work out too well over time.
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Good luck to him but he is now an ex-player and you should see how our business develops in the transfer market.
If our current managers are in the owners’ long-term plans, a coherent plan should emerge. If that didn’t exist, and we saw very little activity, I would wonder what the owners’ intentions were.
They pay dividends to their investors, so cash flow may be limited, but without further investment we’ll pretty much keep the status quo, safe, but very much a work in progress.
I suspect this is where we are now.