Everton star who was sold by Koeman is now outscoring Calvert-Lewin

It’s been a turbulent week for Everton as a ten-point deduction after breaching Financial Fair Play regulations has left the club second from bottom in the Premier League.

The news is perhaps the icing on the cake of Farhad Moshiri‘s reign at Goodison Park as the billionaire’s reckless spending has caused the Toffees’ top-flight status to hang in the balance for the first time since 1951.

Under the British-Iranian businessman, Everton have spent £750m on players but the highest finish achieved in his seven-year spell as owner was seventh in the 2016/17 campaign, although quite a lot of that side had been assembled before his arrival.

Nevertheless, there is one player from that team who is currently outscoring all of Everton’s current squad this season, including star striker Dominic Calvert-Lewin.

How much Everton signed Romelu Lukaku for

Having scored 17 goals in 38 appearances on loan the season prior at West Bromwich Albion, including a hattrick during Sir Alex Ferguson’s final game in charge of Manchester United in a 5-5 thriller, Romelu Lukaku secured a loan move to Everton in 2013. The Belgian had an excellent campaign with the Merseyside club as Everton finished fifth and earned a spot at the Europa League table.

The club swiftly moved to make a permanent deal with Chelsea after Lukaku won the hearts of the Goodison Park faithful and a transfer worth £28m was eventually agreed between the two sides.

The Belgium international stayed for three more years in a blue shirt, scoring 87 goals in 166 appearances and becoming Everton’s all-time Premier League top goalscorer before Man United manager Jose Mourinho came calling, his former boss at Chelsea, to snap him away from the jaws of Ronald Koeman.

The Red Devils bought the prolific centre-forward for an initial £75m which still remains Everton’s most expensive departure of all time.

After his Old Trafford exit in 2019, Lukaku had a title-winning stint at Inter Milan in Serie A before returning to Stamford Bridge where then-Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel labelled him as “world class”.

Unfortunately for Lukaku, his return to the west London club wasn’t a happy one and the now-30-year-old reunited with Mourinho for the third time at AS Roma during the most recent transfer window.

Romelu Lukaku’s stats this season

Lukaku’s time at Everton still remains the most fruitful goalscoring period of his career. However, the number ‘9’ has found his form once more at Stadio Olimpico and has been a key man for the Giallorossi this season, despite the team’s stuttering start to the season.

In 14 appearances, Lukaku has scored nine goals, including six in Serie A and three in the Europa League, with Mourinho looking to reach his third-consecutive European final in Rome.

While Everton have been much-improved this season under Sean Dyche, despite the recent points deduction, the team still lacks an out-and-out goalscorer. Calvert-Lewin hit 16 Premier League goals during the 2020/21 campaign when Carlo Ancelotti was in charge, but this was still a far cry from Lukaku’s 25 in his final season in Merseyside.

In all competitions this term, Calvert-Lewin and Abdoulaye Doucoure are sharing the number one spot on Everton’s goalscoring charts with four apiece, but Lukaku has scored more times than the duo combined and has outperformed both in a number of key metrics.

Lukaku would also be perfect for Dyche’s system as his physicality up top, his pace on the break and his ability to win aerial duels are all paramount to his overall game. While Calvert-Lewin has proven himself to be quite useful up front for the Toffees in recent seasons, Lukaku is on another level and perhaps could return one day to cement his status as a legend at the club.