Sean Dyche claims he wanted Viktor Gyokeres when he was Everton manager but has insisted Dominic Calvert-Lewin can be a "top striker"
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Sporting CP's Viktor Gyokeres and (inset) Everton's Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Sporting CP's Viktor Gyokeres and (inset) Everton's Dominic Calvert-Lewin
Viktor Gyokeres is now one of world football’s hottest properties with a €100million release clause and Sean Dyche has revealed he tried to sign him for Everton while also insisting that Dominic Calvert-Lewin can be a “top striker.”
Gyokeres, who has plundered 97 goals in 102 games since joining Lisbon-based Sporting CP – including 68 in just 66 Portuguese Primeira Liga matches – is currently at loggerheads with his employers given the intense demand for his signature from some of Europe’s biggest clubs, including leading lights in the Premier League.
The Daily Mail reports that it is understood that the Sweden international believes he reached a gentleman’s agreement with Sporting last summer that would see the club accept a fee in the region of €70m (£60m) including add-ons at the end of the season. However, they are now trying to hold out for a significantly higher price and club president Frederico Varandas has accused the 27-year-old’s entourage of trying to ‘blackmail’ them with the player himself threatening to go on strike.
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Back when the Sweden international was playing for Coventry City in the Championship, he caught Dyche’s eye with the Blues boss searching for additional firepower at Goodison Park. Speaking on TalkSPORT, Dyche said: “The boy Gyokeres, I’ve got to be honest, I think he’s a real player. I saw him in the Championship and a couple of pals like Al Chamberlain (Dyche’s former Watford team-mate who was once one of Neville Southall’s understudies at Everton) – who scouts players – said: ‘I’m telling you, he’s a player.’
“We had him on the radar at Everton, but the numbers kept growing and then we played him in pre-season (against Sporting, shortly after his €20million move from Coventry City) and I thought: strong, honest and there’s more to his game than just scoring goals.”
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Meanwhile, Dyche also spoke about the man who scored the only goal of the game from the penalty spot in the August 5, 2023, meeting between Everton and Sporting at Goodison Park, Dominic Calvert-Lewin and insisted the Blues centre-forward can be a “top striker.” After he missed more than half Everton’s matches in the previous two seasons, Dyche endeavoured to leave no stone unturned when it came to curing Calvert-Lewin of his fitness problems and after what the player himself described as a “factory reset” ahead of 2023/24, he went on to turn out 39 times in all competitions, although he also endured a 23-game scoring drought.
The 28-year-old, who has netted 71 goals in 274 outings for Everton since joining from home city club Sheffield United on August 31, 2016, including 57 in the Premier League, putting him third on the all-time list after Romelu Lukaku (68) and Duncan Ferguson (60), has now entered the final week of his current contract. Dyche said: “He’s still got plenty to offer, he’s not old.
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“I don’t fidget around with all the people finding out what’s going on in the gossip. So, I don’t know any of that (clues on his future), but I did read that they were in some form of talks with Dom and you can see why – strikers are hard to find.
“And if you can get him going, I know that’s been a bit of an if, because he’s sort of nearly got going again and then not quite got firing.
“But if you can, then you’ve got to be looking at it as a serious option. But it is keeping him fit or getting him fit, keeping him fit, and that motivation to really go and push hard to be the top striker I know he can be.”