Sean Dyche has ruled out selling Dominic Calvert-Lewin in January to avoid losing him for nothing in the summer.
Calvert-Lewin has refused Everton ’s efforts to agree a new deal and the former England striker is set to leave on a free in July. Everton could get some money for him in January, but Dyche claims securing Premier League football is the biggest prize this season.
The Blues have been in the top flight since 1954 and are keen to avoid being relegated before their move to their new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock. “The bigger prize in this case is Premier League football for Everton Football Club,” said Dyche.
“You know when I came in it was like you need to safeguard what we’re doing, so that’s the No.1 priority. Along that journey and timeline we’ve had to obviously bring money in. That’s been quite apparent and spend less and bring more in, lower the wages of course.
“But to be giving players away at any cost because you need some money, fortunately we’ve never been pushed that far and that’s still the same now. We can still make decisions on situations and I can’t see anything other than him being here certainly until the end of his contract and then hopefully beyond. We’ll see.”
Calvert-Lewin, 27, who has two goals in eight appearances this season, saw a summer move to Newcastle fail to materialise. He wants to keep his options open, even though American billionaire Dan Friedkin is expected to complete his takeover in December.
Dyche understands Calvert-Lewin’s position and says Everton must respect it. “Maybe that’s up for him to decide,” said the Blues boss. “Maybe it’s his agent, saying wait and see. I don’t know, and that would be fair, wouldn’t it?
“You know, just wait and see which way the club’s going to look at it, and all that sort of stuff, him and the club, the bigger picture. He’s been here quite a long time. He might be thinking, ‘which way is the club going? Which way am I going? What’s my part in it?’. I don’t think that would be unreasonable.”
Calvert-Lewin, who is in his ninth season with Everton, will lead their attack at home to Fulham on Saturday evening and Dyche rejected talk of leaving him out while his future is uncertain. “I don’t do that,” he said. “Get the shirt on, play hard, those are the rules. All the rest of it will look after itself.”
