The staggering stats behind Dominic Calvert-Lewin’s resurgence as Leeds fans rave over ‘England’s No 9’ | OneFootball

Dominic Calvert-Lewin staked his claim as one of the Premier League signings of the season after helping Leeds United to a 4-1 win over Crystal Palace.

Leeds significantly strengthened their defensive and midfield units in the summer transfer window, while also acquiring a new goalkeeper in Lucas Perri.

At the other end of the pitch, they identified Fulham striker Rodrigo Muniz as their top target but were unwilling to match the £50million asking price.

The Whites then turned their attention to Calvert-Lewin, who was available on a free transfer in the summer following the expiration of his Everton contract.

“We’re very proud of the way we went and got Dom, who, by the way, turned down a Champions League contract the day we signed him,” Leeds United managing director Robbie Evans said. “We’re thrilled that he’s here.

“A shared view from the manager, from the recruitment and from the sporting director was that of all the options that were even plausibly available to us nobody was a better fit to the objective of staying up this season than Dominic.”

But the move divided the fanbase as injury issues and inconsistent form marred his time at Goodison Park, and he only scored three goals in 23 Premier League appearances in 2024/25.

Lukas Nmecha – who also arrived on a free transfer – was the only other striker signing and supporters expressed concerns that Leeds would lack the necessary firepower to avoid the drop.

“I was aware of the mixed reviews of me signing for Leeds among the fanbase,” Calvert-Lewin admitted. “When I did join, maybe they were hoping for a big money signing and what that represents.”

The striker initially failed to silence those doubters and scored one goal in his first nine Premier League games, while recording a shot conversion rate of just 6.7% and missing five big chances.

But he needed time to build up his fitness and as he has shown on a steady basis throughout his career, a fit and firing Calvert-Lewin can be a great source of goals.

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The impressive stats

Calvert-Lewin came off the bench at half-time to score against Manchester City before netting in the 3-1 win over Chelsea and the 3-3 draw with Liverpool.

The striker followed that up with a late equaliser against Brentford and a brace in the 4-1 win over Crystal Palace, which moved Leeds six points clear of the relegation zone.

He now has seven goals in 15 Premier League appearances in the 2025/26 campaign, making him the joint-fourth top scorer in the division behind Erling Haaland, Igor Thiago, Antoine Semenyo and Hugo Ekitike.

“It was never in doubt,” Farke said. “His CV speaks for itself, an unbelievable human being, an unbelievable hard worker. We are blessed to have him. Harry Kane is playing in the Bundesliga, but he is one of the best English strikers in the Premier League.”

The 28-year-old now has a shot conversion rate of 21.2%, a shot accuracy of 48% and is averaging a Premier League goal every 147.7 minutes in 2025/26.

In comparison, he scored 57 goals in 239 Premier League appearances for Everton and was averaging a goal every 276.5 minutes for the Toffees.

Despite only playing 15 games for Leeds, he is already having his joint-third-best season in the Premier League. His best campaign for Everton came in 2020/21 under Carlo Ancelotti, when he notched 16 goals in 33 Premier League appearances.

If he remains fully fit for the rest of the 2025/26 season, Calvert-Lewin is on track to better that tally.

Following his brace against Palace, the striker has now netted for a fifth consecutive league game – the joint-longest run of any Leeds player in Premier League history.

He is the fourth Leeds United player to achieve that feat, following in the footsteps of Rod Wallace, Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink and Mark Viduka.

That run makes him one of the most in-form strikers in Europe as the likes of Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, Harry Kane and Robert Lewandowski can’t match his league goal return in the last three weeks.

His recent upturn in form has also coincided with Daniel Farke’s decision to stop using the 4-3-3 formation and switch to a 3-5-2 system.

“I enjoy having bodies around me,” he said. “I think it can be a lonely role sometimes when you’re up there on your own, and sometimes you have to flick it on and chase it and do the dirty bits, really, which I’m more than capable of doing.

“But when you get bodies around you, you can link play and get more of a feeling in the game. And I think that’s why I’ve had the success lately.”

While Calvert-Lewin is thriving at Elland Road, Muniz has just one Premier League goal for Fulham this season and the two senior strikers at Everton have one goal each.

He is also outperforming a number of big-money summer signings. Benjamin Sesko, Viktor Gyokeres and Alexander Isak were bought for a combined total of £262.1million but have just nine Premier League goals between them.

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A potential England recall

During the 4-1 win over Crystal Palace, Leeds fans serenaded Calvert-Lewin with a chant of England’s number nine.

The striker has 11 caps and has netted four goals for England, but his most recent international appearance came in the 4-0 win over Ukraine in the Euro 2020 quarter-final.

Harry Kane will undoubtedly be leading the line for Thomas Tuchel’s side at the World Cup next summer, but there’s a place in the squad for at least one more striker.

Ollie Watkins, Ivan Toney and Dominic Solanke have all played under Tuchel and Calvert-Lewin will be hoping to move above them in the pecking order

“Of course, it’s the ultimate goal for any player to represent your country at a World Cup and it’s a World Cup year,” he said recently.

“It’s always my dream to represent England and it’s the best feeling in the world to represent your country. Of course I’m like any young lad, growing up playing football, watching England and that’s still my dream.

“I’d be surprised if playing for England wasn’t at the top of every English player’s list: playing for your country. That’s just a goal I’ve held from the last time I played for England.

“That’s always been a belief I’ve maintained even when it’s seemed further away that I can compete at that level. I will give you the obvious cliched answer of my focus is on Leeds, my main objective is to keep the football club in the Premier League and that will always be my ultimate goal. That’s where my focus is.

“In order to obtain the England objective is to keep performing the way I’ve been performing and I like that international football is a byproduct of that. Getting into squads is a byproduct of performing at club level.”

Tuchel has said he will video call players who are on the fringes of his squad before the friendlies at the end of March against Uruguay and Japan.

If Calvert-Lewin continues to find the back of the net at Leeds over the next three months, he will surely get a chance to add to his 11 England caps.