Everton manager, Sean Dyche has stated that Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s car, mattress, and sleeping patterns will be be looked at as part of a comprehensive investigation into the striker’s fitness issues.
Toffee’s center-forward will miss Saturday’s Premier League match against relegation rivals Leeds due to a hamstring injury suffered in Dyche’s first game in charge, a win over Arsenal.
The 25-year-old has been limited to 30 appearances over the last two seasons due to a variety of injury issues, and his absence has been felt keenly, with Everton failing to sign a goalscorer either last summer or in January. Calvert-Lewin’s latest manager admits it is critical that Everton identifies the underlying causes.
Dyche said: “I’ve got to learn about his history, his physiological history. I’ve got to learn what his body will and won’t take, which is what we are trying to do now. We’re speaking to him, the medics, the sports scientists, looking at the stats, training programmes, distance covered, high-speed running, how many kms in a week, what’s his diet like, what’s his lifestyle like, what car does he drive, what mattress does he use, how many hours does he sleep a night?
“That’s learning about people. The biggest learning is what is in here [points to his head] and that’s the hard part. I’ll get all the information I can and then share it with him. That’s the process for every player, by the way, not just him.”
Dyche believes Calvert-Lewin’s determination to play through injury is one of the reasons for his frequent setbacks. “I don’t think he’s been properly fit throughout this situation because of his own will and demand to keep playing. Some players don’t realise until afterwards that they’ve put so much demand on themselves and they weren’t quite ready. We have to align the process of getting the injury right and him completely right so that he doesn’t break down and he can keep going. But that’s what you try to do with every player.”
The Football Association has charged Everton and Liverpool for their mass brawl in the final minutes of Monday’s Anfield derby. Both clubs are accused of failing to “ensure their players and/or benches conducted themselves in an orderly manner and/or refrained from provocative behavior,” and they have until Monday to respond.
