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Dominic Calvert-Lewin is Leeds United’s new number nine. That’s a sentence I never expected to write, but here we are. We all think we know who ‘DCL’ is — myself included — but do we really?
Calvert-Lewin is Sheffield born and raised, not that we should hold that against him. He graduated from Sheffield United’s academy, having joined at the age of eight. Again, let’s not hold that against him. Leeds signed Mick Jones from Sheffield United in 1963, after all, and Brian Deane thirty years later.
The young Calvert-Lewin took his first steps in senior football across the Roses divide in Lancashire in early 2015. He signed on loan for Stalybridge Celtic in National League North, where he scored six goals in five matches after moving from midfield to centre-forward, before returning to Sheffield United.
Another loan to Northampton Town in League Two followed, where eight goals in 26 matches meant Everton saw enough to sign him permanently. He made eleven appearances in his first season and scored on his full debut against Hull.
⏪ | #OnThisDay in 2017…
🔵 #EFC 4-0 Hull City 🐯
ft. @CalvertLewin14‘s first #PL goal! ☝️ pic.twitter.com/m2aCiJ6KwZ
— Everton (@Everton) March 18, 2020
Calvert-Lewin’s real breakout year came in 2019/20, right around the time Carlo Ancelotti took over from Marco Silva, which must feel like a wild acid trip to the perennially miserable Evertonians. Leeds’ new number nine scored fifteen times that season and got his first call up for England in October 2020. He scored 21 times in 2020/21 and went to the Euros with his country, the peak of his career (so far), appearing twice from the bench as England lost in the final.
It’s after the Euros that Calvert-Lewin’s injury problems began. A broken toe early in 2021/22 left him on the sidelines for three months and a series of hamstring injuries derailed the following season too.
A relatively injury free 2023/24 saw him play 33 times in the league, scoring seven goals as Everton struggled under Sean Dyche. That was still enough for him to be the club’s joint top scorer that year, but the goals dried up in 2024/25, scoring only three times in 26 matches.
Calvert-Lewin missed fourteen matches between January and May with a hamstring injury, the issue that has come to symbolise the latter half of his time at Everton.
Erm, yeah. He scored the second goal in Everton’s 2-1 win at Elland Road in February 2021, shushing an imaginary crowd. Then he showed up to LS11 again six months later when Everton played United in the first match with unrestricted attendance post-Covid. And he scored again. And he shushed again. This time, there were fans stood watching on as he gestured toward them, before turning and pointing at the name on the back of his shirt. Mateusz Klich and Raphinha scored as the match ended 2-2 and all was fine. Sort of. Not really.
We don’t have long memories for that sort of thing, do we? Leeds fans managed to forgive Jayden Bogle for doing the binoculars gesture after he won with Derby County at Elland Road in the play-offs a few years ago, so Calvert-Lewin should be fine.
I’m sure it must be nice to play for your country at a major tournament, or score 21 goals in a season, but Calvert-Lewin’s goal in Everton’s only win against Liverpool at Goodison Park since 2010 is probably up there.
Jarrad Branthwaite gave Everton the lead in the first half, even though Calvert-Lewin did his utmost to steal the goal on the line. He got his moment in the second half, scoring a header from a corner. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?
The 2-0 win all but confirmed Everton’s safety from relegation and put a huge dent in Liverpool’s title chase, one which had taken on a life of its own after their manager Jurgen Klopp announced he was leaving at the end of the season, right before said season fell to pieces. Good lad, Dom.
It’s worth noting how often Calvert-Lewin gave Virgil van Dijk a torrid time with his physicality and general hold up play. If Leeds can get that out of him — and he stays fit — then he might just become a fan favourite at Elland Road.
While the edgy comedians would make some reference to him wearing a skirt and holding a Prada handbag in a GQ photoshoot, the worst moment of Calvert-Lewin’s career has to be his untimely broken toe in August 2021. It stunted his progress just as he was in the ascendancy and could be considered the moment that his Everton career started to decline.
The hamstring injuries that followed can’t have helped either. Nor did the vocal minority of Everton fans, miserable at the best of times, who took issue with Calvert-Lewin’s wife, Sandra, posting about him being one of the ‘top three’ strikers in Everton’s history but calling out the fans who ‘don’t shout it’. The particularly touchy ones resorted to racist abuse directed towards Mrs Calvert-Lewin, a dickhead’s way to mark the end of nine years of service from their striker.
The mixed reaction to Calvert-Lewin’s transfer being leaked by David Ornstein meant that by the time the club announced his arrival on Friday evening, the relatively muted social media unveiling appeared to say: “Yeah, it’s him. He’s here. Do with that what you will.”
But we did at least get a video of him arriving for his medical:
🤩 “I’ve played at Elland Road before”
🙌 “I just remember how loud the fans were!” pic.twitter.com/mYcmB8Rv4j— Leeds United (@LUFC) August 15, 2025
It’s been said a million times already, but there’s not a drop of fat on the man. I know that’s a given these days but I remember seeing the club post a video of Weston McKennie’s medical. On reflection, perhaps it was a warning, or a cry for help from the medical team.
By staying fit, for starters. In the past two years he has actually only missed two more matches than Rodrigo Muniz, who Leeds were willing to spend a clean fortune on, but it’s safe to say his injury history in the past four years is a worry.
Calvert-Lewin’s style of play should suit the new look Leeds United down to the ground, his hold up play and aerial ability two key assets for any side fighting against the drop. If he can score some goals while staying fit and help Leeds stay up, he will become one of the more unlikely Leeds United cult heroes of recent years. ⬢
(Photograph by Richard Sellers, via Alamy)
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