Calvert-Lewin to Arsenal: Jeff Stelling and Ally McCoist react to Everton text
Everton selling Dominic Calvert-Lewin to Arsenal and not immediately reinvesting to sign a new striker would be “negligence”, Ally McCoist has said.
Speaking on talkSPORT (13 January, 9:27am), McCoist and Jeff Stelling reacted to an Arsenal fan’s text suggesting Calvert-Lewin would be a good option for the Gunners to address their striker crisis.
Out of contract in the summer, Calvert-Lewin is on course to leave for free and could be sold before 3 February to bring in funds, but McCoist urged the Toffees to ensure a replacement is quickly identified.
Stelling said: “It’s an interesting option, isn’t it? Everton I think would be keen to do business, because in financial terms it would give them a chance to spend.”
McCoist replied: “As long as David Moyes got the opportunity to spend it immediately, because if you sell him and you don’t replace him, and you get relegated – that’s negligence, effectively.
“I’m not sure his goalscoring record would indicate that he’s Arsenal’s first choice. I’d still say his goal ratio should be better.
“If Everton sell him and they don’t replace him, and get relegated? Wow.”
Dominic Calvert-Lewin backed to seal Everton transfer
Although he’s been the first-choice number nine for several seasons now, it’s clear that Calvert-Lewin’s powers are on the wane, with the 27-year-old having netted just two goals so far this term.
Those two goals came in back-to-back matches – both defeats – against Bournemouth and Aston Villa in games three and four of the season, meaning he hasn’t scored for almost four months to the day.
That’s hardly the kind of striker Arsenal need to go from pretenders to leaders in the Premier League title race, but also nowhere near as prolific as is needed to fire the Toffees to safety at the bottom.
This transfer window is the Blues’ last chance to gain any sort of profit from selling Calvert-Lewin unless the striker does pen a new contract, which he’s not shown many signs of doing in recent months.
Arsenal coming in with an eight-figure fee to pluck Calvert-Lewin from Goodison Park could open the door to the Toffees adding reinforcements, and based on this season’s form, they’d be hard-pressed not to find an improvement.
In other Everton news, one Toffees youngster’s performances have left his manager hoping he won’t be recalled from his loan.
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