Everton are poised to lose both Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison de Andrade in the summer amid interest in both players from Arsenal and Manchester United.
The Toffees have endured a horrid 2021/22 season, first under Rafa Benitez, and now under Frank Lampard. They currently sit in 17th place on the Premier League table, three points from the relegation places.
The club is also under scrutiny as owner Farhad Moshiri is a long-time business associate of Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, who is reportedly an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, and could face the same sanctions which Chelsea are currently dealing with.
The club also posted losses of over £121 million for last season earlier this week, showing how much their stock is dropping in England. This has led to former Liverpool defender and current Sky Sports pundit Jamie Carragher calling them ‘the worst run club in England’.
While they struggle to make something out of the 2021/22 season, they now have to bother about a major squad overhaul ahead of the next season as two of their star players in Calvert-Lewin and Richarlison could be leaving Goodison Park at the end of the season.
The Sun reports that the club have decided to sell both players – along with other key players – in the summer in order to help stabilise their finances
This will give Arsenal a boost in their striker search, as Calvert-Lewin has been on the radar of the Gunners for the past few months as they seek a replacement for 92-goal striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who left in January for Barcelona.
Reports have emerged that the striker has agreed on a deal with Arsenal, but his agent has recently come out to deny those claims. Speaking to The Bobble, Calvert-Lewin’s agent said: “Dominic has not agreed on any deal with any club. He is currently working very hard in training and is fully focused on finishing the season strong with Everton.”
Former Arsenal striker Alan Smith, however, has advised Arsenal to look elsewhere in their search for a striker as he believes the Everton striker doesn’t fit within the team’s style of play.
“I wouldn’t say Calvert-Lewin is an ideal fit for Arsenal. In many ways, he’s an old-fashioned centre-forward and he loves balls being swung into the box,” Smith told Sky Sports. “That’s not particularly Arsenal’s game. It can be when they get the full-backs forward and you can imagine Kieran Tierney whipping in crosses from the left towards him. But he’s not immediately what I would think of as an Arsenal centre-forward at the moment.”
Carragher: Lampard does not have the experience to manage Everton
Carragher has also claimed that Everton’s struggles under Lampard are to be expected as the former Chelsea boss has not become accustomed to losing yet.
Lampard took over from Rafa Benitez on the last day of the January transfer window after the Everton fans protested the chairman’s decision of appointing another foreign coach following the failures of Benitez, Carlo Ancelotti and Marco Silva.
The former Chelsea midfielder and manager immediately saw that the problem at the Merseyside club was overwhelming and has been battling to stabilise the club from the first day of his appointment.
Carragher, speaking on The Overlap, a show hosted on Sky Sports, noted that Lampard’s familiarity with winning as a player makes him ill-equipped for the job.
“The big thing for Frank is throughout his career, he’s been in teams who are winning,” Carragher said. “And even at Derby and Chelsea, he wanted them to go a little better but they were winning most weeks.
“Getting into the playoffs, you are coming in Monday morning with that winning feeling. Even with Chelsea, yes, okay he didn’t win a couple of trophies but they were winning most weeks. He’s now at a club where he’s got to get used to losing right now with the run that they are on- the run that these players have been on before and what he’s on now.
“Now, he’s got to be the guy who comes in on Monday and lift the players and this is a Frank Lampard who is not used to losing as a player.
“It’s tough, that feeling coming into a training ground on Monday morning when you have had a bad defeat and that’s the big thing for Frank, he’s never had to do this in his managerial career – he’s always been involved in good teams.”
