Everton‘s relegation worries in the Premier League are now a distant memory with David Moyes at the helm.
Since his return to the Toffees hot seat, the rejuvenated Merseyside outfit have only lost once in the Premier League, with a fifth victory from eight clashes on the cards if it wasn’t for a late Manchester United turnaround last time out.
Still, with how bleak times were under Sean Dyche, nobody at full-time would grumble too much with a share of the points, as the Scotsman continues to get the best out of players once cast aside by the ex-Burnley boss.
Everton star looks “transformed” under Moyes
The main Toffees man who has seen his career pumped full of new life since Moyes’ return opened the scoring against Ruben Amorim’s hit-and-miss Red Devils, with the revitalised centre-forward in the midst of an unbelievable purple patch of form.
Indeed, the “transformed” Beto – as he’s labelled by football journalist Henry Winter – now has five strikes from his last four Premier League outings, with the Portuguese striker in the right place at the right time to fire home a strike after some lax United attempts to clear the ball away.
This is the case despite Dyche regularly not throwing the imposing 6 foot 4 figure into contests, with all five of his league starts for the season coming under Moyes, as the ex-Udinese man more than continues to justify his fresh manager’s belief in him.
Whilst this is an obvious plus at Goodison Park, this new development could be another nail in the coffin for an injury-prone Toffees face, with an exit from the club growing closer.
Everton were in dire need of something fresh in the striker department, with Dyche’s Toffees very much goal-shy and tepid in forward areas when you consider his lowly side only bagged one meagre goal from his final five top-flight outings.
That’s where Beto has thankfully come to the rescue, but it could signal the end for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, therefore, who sees his contract with the Merseyside titans expire this approaching June.
From 14 more Premier League starts this campaign than Beto, the declining 27-year-old only has a weak three strikes next to his name, with this sorry tale of the Everton number nine unfolding for some time now.
Last season, Calvert-Lewin only bagged one more than his counterpart’s ever-growing total across 26 league matches, as his powers in front of goal noticeably began to wane more and more away from focusing in on his consistent spells out of the side owing to injury.
| Calvert-Lewin’s numbers by season at Everton | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Games | Games missed (injuries) | Goals | Assists |
| 24/25 | 22 | 8 | 3 | 1 |
| 23/24 | 38 | 6 | 8 | 3 |
| 22/23 | 18 | 29 | 2 | 1 |
| 21/22 | 18 | 33 | 5 | 2 |
| 20/21 | 39 | 5 | 21 | 3 |
| 19/20 | 41 | 0 | 15 | 1 |
| 18/19 | 38 | 1 | 8 | 3 |
| 17/18 | 44 | 14 | 8 | 5 |
| 16/17 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Sourced by Transfermarkt | ||||
When looking at the table above, it does feel as if Calvert-Lewin has been steadily falling off since his 21-goal season back in the 2020/21 campaign, with a whole host of injury issues impacting the ex-Sheffield United attacker negatively.
Already missing from action for eight games this time around, Moyes and Co can only be patient with their £100k-per-week man for so long, as reports now even begin to surface that Everton are interested in a summer swoop for ex-Chelsea striker Tammy Abraham.
Whilst it’s clear that Calvert-Lewin can be a goal machine, his best days do seem to be behind him now, whilst Beto might well have more in the tank moving forward.
