Sean Dyche issues hands-off warning over Dominic Calvert-Lewin heading into the January transfer window... despite striker's current deal running out at the end of the season
- The striker's current deal with the Merseyside club comes to an end this summer
- However, Sean Dyche has insisted that Everton will not be looking to sell him
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Everton would rather lose Dominic Calvert-Lewin for nothing next summer than jeopardise their Premier League status by cashing in during the January window.
Calvert-Lewin’s contract runs out at the end of the season but Sean Dyche sees the centre-forward as too important to risk making a sale in the New Year.
Everton are due to open the 2025-26 season in a new waterfront stadium with American Dan Friedkin also hoping to complete a takeover of the club next month.
The Merseysiders, who face Fulham on Saturday having taken eight points from their last four games, have become known as a selling club in recent years with Anthony Gordon and Amadou Onana fetching big fees to help finances.
Dyche is confident however they will be able to resist vultures circling Calvert-Lewin in the New Year looking for a knockdown price.
Everton have issued a hands-off warning over Dominic Calvert-Lewin heading into January
Sean Dyche says 'the number one priority since I’ve been here is safeguarding our status'
‘I think the bigger prize in this case is Premier League football for Everton Football Club,’ said the manager.
‘The number one priority since I’ve been here is safeguarding our status. Along the journey, we’ve obviously had to bring money in but fortunately have never been pushed as far as giving players away for any cost.
‘We can still make decisions on situations and I can’t see anything other than Dom certainly being here until the end of his contract and then hopefully beyond.
‘I have an opinion of course on player trading, players in, players out, contracts. Kev (Sporting Director Kevin Thelwell) will take care of the business side of the club and we’ve worked pretty well together so far. We are pretty much aligned in what we think.’
With Everton having seen other takeover bids flounder, Dyche isn’t counting his chickens over Friedkin until the deal is signed.
And he accepts 27-year-old Calvert-Lewin, who has been capped 11 times by England, could be seeing what happens in the boardroom before deciding where his future lies.
“That would be fair, wouldn’t it? Just wait and see, the bigger picture,’ added the manager.
Calvert-Lewin's current deal with the Merseyside club is set to run out at the end of the season
‘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.
‘Until the deal is actually done, it is just a pointless task to start going “Oh yeah, what if this, what if that”.
Dyche’s own contract also ends at the end of the season and he’s not yet met Friedkin who already owns Roma and is in advanced talks to buy Everton from Farhad Moshiri.
‘I don’t know the next steps they would take and the first one, they have to get the club because we have seen this story even in my time, and before my time, prospective new ownership not actually going through for whatever reason,' added Dyche.
Blues defender Jarrad Branthwaite should be fit to return after a full week's training as Everton welcome former player Alex Iwobi back to Goodison Park.
