The Toffees coach sees similarities between the in-form England international and a five-time Ballon d’Or winner
Dominic Calvert-Lewin has been compared to Cristiano Ronaldo by Everton assistant Davide Ancelotti, who describes the forward as a “special player”.
Calvert-Lewin has taken his game to new heights since Carlo Ancelotti’s appointment at Goodison Park in December 2019.
The 23-year-old has hit 14 goals in 16 appearances across all competitions for Everton this season, helping the team rise to fourth in the Premier League and qualify for the Carabao Cup quarter-finals.
Gareth Southgate has been impressed enough to hand Calvert-Lewin a regular spot in his England set-up, and he has even been linked with a big-money move to Manchester United.
Ancelotti has coached some of the best strikers of all-time over the course of his illustrious career, with the likes of Ronaldo Nazario, Filippo Inzaghi, David Trezeguet and Didier Drogba all benefitting from his wisdom on the touchline.
The Italian manager’s son, who works as his father’s No.2 at Goodison, believes Calvert-Lewin has the same superstar potential, and has even drawn similarities between the Toffees talisman and Juventus frontman Ronaldo.
“I think he has all [the attributes] to be the same,” Ancelotti Jr told talkSPORT.
“Of course, he is at the beginning of his way. But as I said, game-by-game, I’m seeing big improvements. Also in training he is working very hard to improve.
“The special ability he has, that all the big talents have, is that he knows his body really well. He knows his feelings really well and that’s not so common.
“For example, [Cristiano] Ronaldo was a player like this. He was able to understand his body.”
The Everton coach added on the qualities that make Calvert-Lewin stand out: “He is a special player. He has fantastic abilities.
“Game-by-game you can see his improvement and how he is able to make the difference in this league. It’s not easy to make the difference.
“Especially from a physical point of view, it’s difficult to see a player in this league that is better than the others because the level is really high.
“But Dominic is able to impress from this point of view.”
Ancelotti Jr went on to discuss the Toffees’ bright start to the 2020-21 campaign, comparing their recent progress to that of cross-city rivals Liverpool at the beginning of Jurgen Klopp’s reign.
“If you look at the starting line-up when Klopp came in, it was completely different [to now],” he said.
“With the planning, to be patient and to try to build year-by-year, you can reach objectives if you are ambitious. Everton is ambitious.
“Last year we arrived in 12th place and this is just the second year, so we don’t have to think we are going to win the league. We don’t have to put too big objectives for us.
“But we have to be competitive as we’ve shown in the last three games [in wins over Chelsea, Leicester and Arsenal], build the mentality year-by-year and improve the team year-by-year.
“Everton can follow the way Liverpool have in the last years.”
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