Newcastle keen to bolster forward line with Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin

Newcastle hope to bolster their forward options by signing Everton’s Dominic Calvert-Lewin. The 27-year-old has 12 months left on his contract and although signing a new deal has not been completely ruled out it is understood that the likelier scenario is the striker leaving Goodison Park this summer.

Newcastle, who could sell Callum Wilson and want to provide competition for Alexander Isak, have been interested in Calvert-Lewin for a while and are keen to push ahead with a move for the England international. Everton will not want to lose him on a free next year.

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Everton, meanwhile, have made their first signing of the summer with the arrival of Tim Iroegbunam on a three-year deal from Aston Villa. The 20-year-old central midfielder, who has cost a reported £9m, was an Under-19s European Championship winner with England in 2022 and has also represented the under-20s.

“I’m very pleased. Everton is an amazing club, a big club and I’m just really happy to join and I can’t wait to get started,” Iroegbunam told the club website. “It was a move that I didn’t want to pass by. I wanted to take the opportunity. It was very important for me to get the move sorted quickly. It means I can get settled in and come in from day one and take my chance to impress from the start of pre-season.”

Iroegbunam came through West Brom’s academy, making his senior debut in May 2021 before moving to Villa a month later. He made his debut for Villa in February 2022 and went on to make 12 Premier League appearances for them, although only two were starts.

“We’re pleased to add Tim to our midfield options. He is a young player who is still learning and developing but clearly has a lot of the qualities we want in that area of the pitch,” the Everton manager, Sean Dyche, said. “My coaching staff and I are looking forward to starting to work with him in pre-season.”

Villa are in talks with Everton to sign 21-year-old winger Lewis Dobbin.