The free transfer nobody wanted
In August 2025, Leeds signed Dominic Calvert-Lewin on a free. The fans smirked. The forward had just come off a season of three goals in 26 Premier League games for Everton, and nobody fancied him to keep a newly promoted side in the top flight.
Thirteen months on, the verdict looks very different.
On Monday night the Englishman was on the scoresheet again in the hammering of Newcastle (4-1). He nearly had a second, only for Jayden Bogle to get the final touch on a header that was going in anyway. Calvert-Lewin has now scored in each of his last five home league games. Only Mark Viduka managed that kind of run for Leeds, between March and August 2003. Go back further and it gets stranger: no Englishman had scored in six straight games at Elland Road since Arthur Hydes in 1932. Crystal Palace visit on Saturday.
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15.6 goals short of expectation, and then this
He has 16 Premier League goals in 39 games since arriving, more than any other English player over that spell. His previous 16 goals took him 91 appearances.
The barren years were enough to make anyone wince. Between 2021-22 and 2024-25 he scored 12 non-penalty goals in 6,257 minutes from an xG of 27.6, leaving him 15.6 goals short of expectation. That was the biggest underperformance anywhere in Europe’s top five leagues across those four seasons. At Leeds the gap has almost closed: 12 goals from 14.4 xG. Last season he netted 14, his third top-flight campaign in double figures.
The rest of his game matters just as much. Since the start of last season he has led the Premier League for pressing actions (3,605) and high presses (2,613). This season he has covered 21.9 km without the ball, with only Oli McBurnie going further. Nobody has contested more aerial duels since his move (353), and only Erling Haaland has attempted more headers on goal, 32 to 29.
Daniel Farke did not bother playing it down after the win. “I expect him to carry the group. He has taken responsibility. It is not just the goals, the way he plays is outstanding,” the German said.
Tuchel picks his squad on Friday
Then there is the England question. Calvert-Lewin has 12 caps and four goals for his country, including 11 appearances under Carlo Ancelotti at Everton. He came back into the fold in March against Uruguay, but did not do enough to lock down a World Cup spot.
Thomas Tuchel names his first squad since the World Cup on Friday, ahead of the Nations League fixtures against Spain and the Czech Republic. Ollie Watkins and Ivan Toney have both moved to Saudi Arabia. At 29, the Leeds striker has a window.
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