Dominic Calvert-Lewin believes he has turned the corner in his struggle for consistent fitness, saying that he can get back to action with the confidence that he won’t break down again following a summer of patient rehabilitation and fitness work.
The 26-year-old has endured two stop-start years that have restricted him to 30 Premier League starts over the past couple of seasons and robbed Everton of their only reliable goalscorer while the club has failed to recruit adequate cover for his position.
The Blues’ nominal striker’s scored a paltry three goals between them last term but if Calvert-Lewin’s outlook for 2023-24 is vindicated, manager Sean Dyche can look forward to calling on the one-time England international on a regular basis this season.
Speaking to BBC Radio Merseyside, Calvert-Lewin revealed the psychological toll that constantly battling to stay fit exacts but he also stated his confidence that the worst was behind him.
“When you can’t physically do that and perform on a regular basis, it is the most frustrating thing in the world,” he said. “It’s a mental battle when you are getting injured all the time. When you are on the pitch you are probably not fully committing as you feel something might go wrong.
“I am over that now and in a good space of mind to go and attack the season.
“It’s been a vicious cycle of rushing back, with an expectation on me to be back and not being allowed time to get 100% fit.
“The manager came in and said, ‘You’re not coming back until you are fully fit’. When I come back, I am not a passenger, I have a job to do leading the line.
“He has shown patience, deflecting all attention that is always put on me about ‘when he’s back?’. He took that load off me.
“It was almost like factory reset when the season finished. It was like, ‘What can we do differently, what’s going wrong?'”
Dyche committed earlier this year to examine every aspect of Calvert-Lewin‘s life — from his mattress to the car he drives — in a bid to get to the root of his injury struggles and while it looked as though he and the club’s medical staff had resolved a good deal of the issues by late in the season, the former Sheffield United man suffered yet another set-back in the penultimate game of the 2022-23 campaign.
A fitness programme over the summer that has included yoga has targeted his overall mobility and a visit to a pioneering neuro training centre in Germany now has him close to full readiness, with DCL himself raring to go.
Dyche cast doubt on the player being in the line-up to face Fulham, however, when Everton kick off the new season on Saturday.
More likely, Calvert-Lewin will be named among the substitutes, hopefully able to get some minutes off the bench.
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