Calvert-Lewin: This past year has been the most difficult period of my career

The 25-year-old Calvert-Lewin scored 21 goals in all competitions during the 2020/21 season but then he missed the first months of last season with an injury. He got injured again in January and struggled to stay fit in recent months.

The England striker scored for Everton during a 3-0 win against Crystal Palace on Saturday and said the past year has been the most difficult period of his career.

“It has been very tough, the most difficult 12 months of my career so far, because I am a football player and all I want to do is play football so when you get that taken away from you, I appreciate there are much worse things going on in the world, but that is my experience of what I do,”

he said.

“The key has been to keep believing in myself and keep remembering those good moments of when I am going to be stepping out at Goodison Park and scoring goals. Today was a massive bonus and relief you could say. I pat myself on the back because if I ever stopped believing I might not have been able to do that today.”

who has scored 58 goals for

in 191 matches also responded to claims that he is not interested in football as he spent a long time on the sidelines.

He said:

“Social media is what it is and it's a platform for people to share their opinions freely. For me, football is my life; it's what I've given everything to.

“I live and breathe football and I think about it every minute of every day. I think about how I can get better, how I can score goals and how I can improve.”

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