Sean Dyche can’t wait for Dominic Calvert-Lewin or Neal Maupay amid Everton transfer verdict – talkSPORT pundit
Sean Dyche “can’t wait” for Dominic Calvert-Lewin or Neal Maupay and if he doesn’t sign a new striker Everton will be in another relegation battle, according to Tony Cascarino.
The talkSPORT pundit said live on the station on Sunday (13 August) that the Toffees will be “fighting” the drop again without another new goalscorer, as the manager “can’t rely” on the “continually injured” Englishman or the “scapegoat” Frenchman.
Dyche has signed 19-year-old Youssef Chermiti from Sporting but he arrived too late to feature in the 1-0 defeat to Fulham in the opener on Saturday, with Calvert-Lewin not risked once more due to fitness and Maupay unable to find the net.
Cascarino said: “The bottom line is if Everton don’t sign a striker [from] wherever they can in football to get goals they will be fighting relegation.
“I’ve said it all along, how long do you stay with a player that is continually injured? You can’t rely on him. For whatever reason Calvert-Lewin has missed way too much football. I get you can have a serious injury but clubs can’t stop, they can’t wait for players to be ready and fit again because if they have a recurrence of something you’re now stuck.
“Neal Maupay, I’ve been there, I’ve been that centre-forward. You become the scapegoat. You get chances, you miss them, but that is Premier League football. Like I paid a price and I was let go by clubs…
“Sean Dyche can’t wait for Neal Maupay to suddenly find form. He’s got to get a striker in that he believes is going to convert chances when he gets them.”
Harsh, but fair?
Based on the Fulham game Cascarino is unfortunately right, since that match could just as easily have been played last season with the way it went.
There were signs of improvement in the overall play, and the home side certainly created enough to take a valuable three points in front of the Goodison fans.
But an inability to finish moves off was punished as Marco Silva’s side left Merseyside with what amounted to a smash and grab win.
The fact that Michael Keane did have the ball in the net only to have it disallowed for a highly-questionable supposed foul by James Tarkowski on Bernd Leno suggests Everton aren’t going to get much help from the officials again this year.
Calvert-Lewin, if fit, is easily good enough to keep the Toffees out of trouble, but until he proves that over a sustained period Dyche can’t take the risk, and the fact that he wasn’t even on the bench at the weekend wasn’t particularly encouraging.
Maupay doesn’t suit the system and his move to Goodison has clearly not worked out, while Chermiti is a relatively unknown quantity with so little senior football behind him but could prove a revelation.
The difference between three points and none in the opener was goalscoring once more, and while the additions of Arnaut Danjuma and Jack Harrison are useful in that regard they aren’t necessary the final answer, so another striker in the final weeks of the window would make a crucial difference.
In other Everton news, a member of the first-team squad is now “keen” on a move within England amid talks to make it happen.