Sam Allardyce heaped praise on Everton attacker Dominic Calvert-Lewin and shared he thought the player had improved immensely this season.
The former Toffees boss revealed that he thought the 22-year-old was a quality player but that there was still room for improvement in his opinion.
Allardyce stated that he thought Calvert-Lewin still needed to increase his goal tally in order to ensure Marco Silva could regularly count on him to play upfront.
“Calvert-Lewin has improved immensely this season and next season he might even improve yet again,” said Allardyce on talkSPORT (8:10am, Monday April 22nd).
“I think what he has to do is, I think he is a quality player but he is still a little short on the goal tally to command that centre-forward position on a regular basis.”
OPINION
Allardyce being positive about Everton is a nice change of pace. The Toffees boss often seems unhappy at the way he left Goodison Park and often is extra critical of the side as of a result. However he clearly won’t let his opinion of how his reign at the club went to stop him from praising Calvert-Lewin. The 22-year-old has come on leaps and bounds this season to be a more reliable presence for Silva’s side, however Allardyce is right to highlight his goal record. Calvert-Lewin, despite his improvement, has still only managed six goals in 33 league outings this season and if he wants to be the club’s main man, he needs to be hitting double digits. While there is still enough games left this season for Calvert-Lewin to reach 10 goals, there’s no guarantee he will, based on his form in front of goal this season. Yet there is still hope for the 22-year-old as he improved this season, so you wouldn’t bet against him being able to do better in his 2019/20 campaign.