Dominic Calvert-Lewin set for huge year for Everton and England - Sue Smith

The fact they have been put back a year gives him a real chance to be involved.

Players can burst onto the scene and have a really good season as he did in 2019-20 but then there are questions about how they will fare again. The Sheffield-born centre-forward has already scored 10 goals in seven games.

Harry Kane is England’s captain and one of the first names on the team-sheet but England need other centre-forward options next summer – not to mention someone else they can go to if the Tottenham Hotspur player picks up an injury.

Danny Ings was outstanding last season and has started this one so well. To be performing at the level he has for a mid-table team is brilliant. Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy is still scoring goals but has put his international career to bed. Tammy Abraham has a fight on his hands to play regularly for Chelsea with all the players they have brought in and Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford is more of a wide player.

But Calvert-Lewin made a brilliant start to his England career against Wales on Thursday. He did not look nervous at all and did everything you want from a striker, running into the channels, linking up play and, of course, scoring. He was quite isolated in the first half but still did a good job of holding the ball up and trying to bring others into play.

I was impressed and so, it seems, was Gareth Southgate, who was impressed that Calvert-Lewin took his cap off when they first met. Little things like that point to a good character. Hopefully, the fact he was substituted early is a sign he will be involved in tomorrow’s Nations League game at home to Belgium.

I have followed the Yorkshireman’s career for a few years now and you can see a real difference in his game this season.

A few years back, Everton fans did not like him. They thought he was not good enough. He worked really hard and you could see he was putting the effort in but he was missing chances and his touch was not great. So many fans were saying he could not be Everton’s starting No 9.

I would feel for him because you could see how hard he was trying. I had times in my career when things were not going for me and sometimes you try too hard to make amends and it just does not happen.

Calvert-Lewin has been able to flip the criticism around completely and now Everton fans absolutely love him and see the progression and development in his game.

Of course, you can say that is down to Duncan Ferguson, Everton’s assistant manager, and Carlo Ancelotti, the manager, but it is also down to himself.

When you speak to any coach who has worked with him the thing they really notice is how hard Calvert-Lewin works and how much he always wants to improve.

When training finishes he will want to do 10 more shots with his left foot or 10 more headers from wide free-kicks or whatever because he knows that will make him better on a weekend. He has worked really hard on his gym work, too, and got stronger and fitter. He is an absolute athlete, a complete machine.

He has learnt he does not need to do as much work off the ball, and has had it drummed into him to be more selfish. Ancelotti has got him into areas to score more often, telling him when the ball goes out wide not to be going out as an option, but to be in the box when the delivery comes in.

With plenty of money to spend, Ancelotti could have tried to buy an amazing centre-forward this summer but he trusted in Calvert-Lewin, which must have given him huge confidence when it comes from a manager like the Italian.

Everton have also brought in players around him of such quality that Calvert-Lewin knows if he makes the run, they will find him. Recently, when Ancelotti was asked how well Calvert-Lewin was doing he said: “I would score goals with those players behind me!”

You can see him improving in the areas he needed to – his touch, his link-up play, the movement is there now and he still has time to get even better.

It was brilliant to see him called into this month’s England squad because any footballer wants to play for their country and it should be another confidence boost for him.

I would not describe him as an old-fashioned No 9, but he can hold the ball up and bring others into play, then get into the box to get on the end of things. At the same time, he has the pace to run in behind so he can do a bit of both, which is what England need.

They could play him in a two, or on his own down the middle.

It is good to have a Plan B when all your nice football is not working. Sometimes to win a game you have to be a bit ugly.

But I also think Calvert-Lewin can start if something were to happen to Kane. He has shown he can link up with the likes of James Rodriguez and Richarlison because Everton have played more through the thirds this season.

A striker who can be a Plan A or a Plan B is just what Gareth Southgate will need next summer, and Calvert-Lewin can be that man.

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Thank you

James Mitchinson