Abdoulaye Doucoure is refusing to dwell on the past and believes his Everton side can not use the absence of Dominic Calvert-Lewin as an excuse.
Doucoure, who became Everton’s third major midfield signing in four days after completing his move from Watford for about £20m during the 2020 summer transfer window, found himself on the outside looking in during the opening half of the season under Frank Lampard.
However, under the stewardship of Sean Dyche, the Mali international has been ever present in the heart of the Blues’ midfield. It was reported that the 30-year-old was told to train on his own in the final week of Lampard’s tenure as manager and was overlooked for a defeat by West Ham United after a dressing-room row.
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But Doucoure, who is out of contract at the end of the season, although the Blues do have the option of an extension, is now very much looking forward to the future.
“I am happy to have the opportunity to play for this club,” he told evertonfc.com. “The first six months of the season were difficult for me.
“It was the first time in my career that I wasn’t getting minutes for such a long period but I kept my head down, kept working as I always do and the rewards came after. None of that matters now, anyway, I’m here, we’re all together and we’re fighting.”
Speaking on Thursday afternoon, Blues boss Dyche revealed that Calvert-Lewin is 'back out on the grass' training, but even though he is progressing well, he is yet to join his team-mates in full sessions.
The England international, who has featured just once under Dyche, has been plagued by injury problems for the past 18 months. So far this season, he has only managed 12 appearances in all competitions.
And Doucoure not only believes it is important that the forward is not rushed back, but also claimed it is up to him and his team-mates to step up and fill the void left by the forward.
He said: “It’s not the right thing to do [to wait on Calvert-Lewin]. Dom has had his injury problem and we have to give him the right time to recover and be strong.
“We can’t wait around for him to come back and even when he is back we can’t put all the pressure on him - it’s not like that.
“There are no excuses. We have good players, Neal Maupay is a good player, Ellis Simms has done great with us since he’s been back and we have to take responsibility.
“Then, when Dom does come back that is great for us. We know we all need to contribute with enough goals and in turn that will earn us wins to get us where we need to be.”
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