While Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son were dovetailing to devastating effect for Tottenham Hotspur, there was another Premier League partnership striking fear into the heart of defences up and down the land a couple of years ago.
During 2020/21, only Kane and Son, and Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes, combined to score more goals than Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lucas Digne.
The latter set up four of the former’s 16 league goals that campaign; Digne’s devilish deliveries either from open play or dead-balls pieces the perfect accompaniment to Calvert-Lewin’s fearsome leap and predatory instincts.
It’s no coincidence that, after Digne left for Aston Villa nine months ago, the goals and the chances dried up. Everton’s number nine is not the sort of centre-forward capable of creating something out of nothing. He feeds off service. And Digne’s departure robbed ‘DCL’ of his partner-in-crime. The Morecambe to his Wise.
In 21 top flight games since the Frenchman’s exit, Calvert-Lewin has scored just three goals, with Digne’s replacement Vitaliy Mykolenko, for all his defensive attributes, lacking technical ability and creativity in the final third.
Caio Henrique and Dominic Calvert-Lewin could be a fearsome Everton partnership
You cannot say the same, however, of another left-sided full-back reportedly on Everton’s radar heading into the January transfer window. Per IG Esporte, The Toffees have joined Brentford in expressing an interest in Monaco’s Caio Henrique.
Since moving to France from Atletico Madrid in 2020, Henrique has mustered 23 assists. A tally of 13 during 2021/22, meanwhile, makes the 25-year-old Brazilian one of the most productive full-backs in the game. It’s not just the frequency of those assists, either, but the manner of them that should have Calvert-Lewin licking his lips with anticipation.
Like Digne and fellow Everton favourite Leighton Baines, Henrique is a master of making perfectly timed runs down the left before delivering with pinpoint accuracy. He’s a real ‘set piece specialist’ too. Most of Calvert-Lewin’s goals during 2020/21 were one-touch finishes from close range. The sort of goals Henrique loves to create.
“I prefer attacking. Us Brazilians, we’re used to attacking. We love to go forward,” Henrique told the Ligue 1 website. “I try to attack when I can. It’s important for me to make assists because they give you visibility and, of course, they help the team.”
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