Arsenal eye stunning £60m Calvert-Lewin transfer swoop

Arsenal are well underway in their preparations to seek life beyond their current forward line as the club eye a £60m move for Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the upcoming summer transfer window.

It’s getting extremely difficult to cut Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang any more slack this season. Performances of heart and energy can only paper over the glaring cracks for so long. He’s had an appalling month and a half.

Not alone in this is Alexandre Lacazette, who enjoyed a mini-run in the team that provided Arsenal with a short-term solution to a long-term problem. Sitting in the reserved second striker/No. 10 role, being played in that position alone tells us enough about his goalscoring capabilities.

Meanwhile Eddie Nketiah is on his way out after rejecting another contract, a decision that seemingly had no impact on him coming on the pitch late in the 3-2 defeat to Manchester United on Thursday.

Arsenal eye stunning £60m Calvert-Lewin transfer swoop in summer window as Lacazette and Aubameyang replacements

Arsenal need a striker. The aim was to get one in the summer, but such is the state of play in the squad that if one can be secured in January then the club have to take it.

However, that remains highly unlikely. So, in a bid to get themselves set up for the end of the season, the Evening Standard, as well as various other outlets, are reporting that the club have keeping a watchful eye on Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin with a view to a summer move.

The 24-year-old kicked the season off in brilliant fashion as he netted three times in his opening three Premier League games for the Toffees, only to suffer a quadriceps injury that has kept him out of action ever since.

His performances over the previous season had seen him comfortably take up the backup slot at centre-forward in the England national team behind Harry Kane, being part of the squad for the European Championships. He has four goals in 11 games for the Three Lions senior team.

Last term he found superb scoring form under the guidance of Carlo Ancelotti, netting 21 goals in 39 games across all competitions, including five assists. That began attracting admiring glances from across the division, with Arsenal also watching him during the recent summer along with fellow Englishman Tammy Abraham.

The reports are now plentiful. Murmurs have been around for a few months but this is a deal that Arsenal are very serious about.

Is Calvert-Lewin the answer to Arsenal’s problems? He might just be.

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Dominic Calvert-Lewin Profiles Excellently – But is he the Right Man?

It’s impossible to determine what striker perfectly suits Arsenal as there is no real indication as to what it is that Arteta wants.

Generally speaking, the idea is that he wants someone who encapsulates the better traits of his two current options, Lacazette and Aubameyang, but links have emerged to a variety of difference centre-forwards over the past few months.

In terms of age, he is exactly what Arsenal should be after. At 24 years old, the Yorkshireman is someone with experience behind him and many years in front of him. The Gunners need a striker who can hit the ground running in the Premier League, which Calvert-Lewin already has proven he can do, but with the room to grow and absorb new ideas in a new system, which he also can.

Where Calvert-Lewin excels is in the first phases of attacks. Watching balls bounce off Aubameyang at Old Trafford as they have done many times of late, Calvert-Lewin is someone who can control the pass either with his feet or in the air and bring others into the play.

Physically dominant, he sits in the 89th percentile for aerials won and has the capacity to bully those around in. In the first phase of an attack when he receives, immediately there is something to build on as others can be drawn to him or run beyond him.

In the box he’s dangerous in all positions, notably boasting excellent ability with his head where he has scored a variety of goals from downward efforts, to diving headers, to cushioned flicks. His shot accuracy of 55.9% puts him in the 98th percentile, an excellent rate for a striker to have at any club, let alone were he to come to a team that doesn’t create clear cut chances in abundance.

Bringing others into play, he isn’t afraid to run the channels either whether that be to chase balls behind opposition lines are to unselfishly open gaps centrally for teammates to run into. As a package, his scoring numbers are excellent considering the team he plays in and he is a handful to deal with.

He isn’t, however, perfect, and the fee is question is something.

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Issues of Technical Quality With Dominic Calvert-Lewin

Highly technical players all working in tandem with one another is part and parcel of the modern era of Arsenal. Wenger built his latter teams on that and Arteta’s usage of Smith Rowe, Saka and Odegaard in a possession-based system aims to find its own variation of that.

Calvert-Lewin has a decent first touch, but is he quite astute enough technically? While he continues to improve with each week of Premier League football under his belt, the primary concern over his profile is that he’s not as crisp on the ball as the ideal Arsenal striker could be.

His best form also came under Ancelotti in an ugly wing-back system with two strikers. Forming a strong bond with Richarlison, having the man to run off him or connect with him in attack brought the best out of him, and two strikers is not the way Arsenal set up. Of course, for England he’s shown himself capable of being a lone striker and he started this season with aplomb, but when reading his numbers from last term there needs to be some context.

Arsenal have to get the best out of Odegaard. A big investment, it’s growing more apparent that Aubameyang and him are not the best fit. Someone like Calvert-Lewin who he can bounce off does, on paper, seem suited. However, he could be limited with his vision in behind for a striker who isn’t slow, but not blessed with pace.

A far as finance is concerned, Arsenal are looking at a cool £60m. That is the figure being banded about and with Everton hoping to push through with their annual squad rebuild, they will be reluctant to let him go. He’s under contract until 2025.

That isn’t to say he’s not a player to admire. There is a lot to like about Calvert-Lewin, from his physical profile, refined finishing techniques and general character on and off the pitch, and if ‘this’ mould of striker is the one Arteta is after then few fit the profile as well as this 24-year-old homegrown option with a proven track record in the Premier League.

Jonathan David – who is profiled at length here – is also listed in the aforementioned report as someone Arsenal are tracking, on a list that is sure to be extensive. And, just maybe, a list that is being moved ahead to the January window.