Reports in the Daily Telegraph claim that Everton striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin is ready to put pen to paper on a new five-year, £70,000 per week contract at Goodison Park.
The 22 year-old has been making significant progress this season, despite the travails Everton have again being experiencing, and is being rewarded for this with a bumper new deal.
It certainly seems a fitting reward for the youngster who has begun to prove his doubters wrong and show that he can be after all, a Premier League centre-forward.
It has taken Calvert-Lewin a while to start to fulfill his potential, which he showed as a teenager including highlights such as scoring the winning goal for England in the Under-20 World cup final in 2017.
The former Sheffield United youth team product always had pace and strength in the air and showed an increasing ability to hold the ball up and become a strong all-round centre-forward.
However he has struggled to score goals with enough regularity and his progress had seemed to stall over the past year or so despite a gradual improvement in his goal tally.
This season though seems to be providing Calvert-Lewin with a breakthrough opportunity, which so far he is taking with both hands.
Despite the Blues spending nearly £30 million on another teenage forward, Moise Kean last summer, the Italian hasn’t been able to hit the ground running and so far has failed to score for his new club. So Calvert-Lewin has a great chance to seize the initiative he has been given and make the centre-forward position his own.
Two key things have happened recently that appears to have accelerated his development. First of all was Duncan Ferguson taking charge as interim Everton manager following Marco Silva’s sacking in December.
Ferguson immediately gave Calvert-Lewin his full confidence to lead the Toffees attack and gave him the fabled number nine shirt. Quite a vote of confidence.
More from Prince Rupert's Tower
- Everton 0 Arsenal 1: Blues fall to third home defeat
- Further chaos in Everton takeover as other lenders not keen on 777 Partners
- Everton need repeat of Arsenal win to kick-start their season on Sunday
- More madness at Everton as Moshiri now agrees to sell club to 777 Partners
- Everton takeover talk cools after UK govt doubts and further questions
The big Scot seemed to have been finally able to give Calvert-Lewin a proper chance to prove himself, something other Blues managers had been reluctant to do with any consistency.
He has begun to impose himself on Premier League defenders and use the power and physical strength he has. In addition he is learning to find space in and around the box and so get on the end of a move to finish with much greater consistency.
Now Carlo Ancelotti has taken over as the Blues new permanent boss and he has expressed his admiration for the England Under-21 star, saying he is crucial to his plans for the club.
The Italian is famed for his man-management and ability to get the best out of his players. Building on Ferguson’s initial move and confirming to Calvert-Lewin his faith in the player’s ability has brought the benefits Blues fans are now seeing. Long may it continue.