Alan Pardew has named one Premier League player who he believes would thrive at any club in the division, namechecking Liverpool in doing so.
Although it’s far from anathema for footballers to represent both the Reds and Everton – as our own Peter Kenny Jones detailed in his book Crossing the Park – it seems highly improbable that Dominic Calvert-Lewin would follow the likes of Nick Barmby in directly swapping blue for red within the city.
That didn’t stop the former Newcastle manager from claiming that the 27-year-old would be good enough to ‘deliver’ for LFC, as he told talkSPORT (2 June, 20:40): “I think every Premier League manager would take him. Whether you could get your owner to say ‘OK, I am going to pay the £40m or the £45m’, whatever he is going to be, it will be less than that given his injuries.
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“Chairmen don’t want to go for a player that might only play 10 games, but his 10 games could be so significant to a manager and it could save his job. He could save you in the league. He could win you a cup. He could get you into Europe. That’s the difference he can make when he is on his game.
“In those last couple of games he played, he was magnificent against Liverpool. There aren’t many players who can achieve the level he can achieve when he is fit. The problem, of course, is his unavailability, which happens to be a bit of an issue for him.
“Realistically, he could play in any team. I honestly believe that, even at Liverpool. At times, you could stick him at centre-forward, no problem and you know he would deliver.”
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Calvert-Lewin’s pedigree at Premier League level is beyond doubt, with 54 goals in 213 appearances in the division (Transfermarkt), and it’s no coincidence that Everton eased themselves away from relegation danger after he rediscovered his scoring touch from the start of April.
However, as Pardew referenced, the 27-year-old has an appalling injury record, with no fewer than 11 separate absences since the beginning of 2021 (Transfermarkt). That unreliability negates much of the penalty box prowess that the England international brings to a team.
While theoretically the striker would be incredibly unlikely to join Liverpool, in any case the Reds already have a frustratingly injury-prone forward in the brilliant Diogo Jota, who’s lethal when at this best but can’t seem to be trusted to stay fit for an entire season.
It’s the same reason why an asterisk lingers over the persistent rumours linking LFC with Federico Chiesa, another superb attacker who unfortunately has been blighted by injuries and therefore makes it difficult for a club to commit the finances which’d be involved in signing a player of his calibre.
Michael Edwards is a sharp operator, and rest assured that aspects such as injury history will form part of assessing prospective transfer targets before a serious move is made for them.