The last thing Everton needs right now is losing any key players, as they try to navigate their way through an injury crisis and a lack of depth in many areas of their squad that has resulted in only five wins from 17 games in the Premier League, leaving them 15th in the table.

With the transfer window in less than 72 hours, Rafa Benitez must avoid the departure of any important players in his side to ensure he can rebuild and climb the table to get back into the top half for a satisfactory finish with the Toffees.

Everton superstar, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, has been rumoured with a move away to Arsenal for weeks, and even pundits have been adding fuel to the flames by encouraging the injured striker to make a move to Arsenal.

Gunners legend, Lee Dixon, spoke to the MailOnline about the potential of Arsenal signing the Toffees forward in the January transfer window;

"Would I like to see Calvert-Lewin at Arsenal? I think yes.

"It would be a step up for Calvert-Lewin, no disrespect to Everton.

"He is fit and athletic, he is strong and good in the air and a good finisher. I would take him."

The MailOnline did also reported earlier this month, that Arsenal were interested in signing Calvert Lewin, but there has been no further links or official interest made by the London club as of yet, despite both Dixon and Paul Merson making their feelings clear about Arsenal's potential signing of the player this week.

Fans will be fuming

If Benitez wasn't already unpopular with fans, due to his successes as manager of fierce local rivals Liverpool, selling Calvert Lewin would be the final nail in the coffin for fans of the club and considered unforgivable, with the goal machine being arguably Everton's best player, scoring 56 goals and bagging 16 assists in 176 appearances.

Selling the centre forward would be unwise with Everton's severe lack of goals and creativity conceding more than they've scored this season so far, even with or without the fans on the manager's back, it doesn't make sense to cash in on him when what he can potentially offer to the side in the second half of the season is priceless.

It would be unlikely that Everton would let the £40.5m-rated star go, unless there was a huge, inflated offer from interested clubs, which actually isn't unheard of in the January transfer window, Andy Carroll to Liverpool for £35m springs to mind, especially with many clubs desperate for prolific goal-scorers to assist with securing a good finish in the second half of the season.

The 28 year old has been side-lined since the early stages of the season sustaining a quadriceps injury and a broken toe, meaning he hasn't played since scoring against Brighton on August 28th 2021.

He then suffered a setback with his recovery progress, and is only now in contention for selection for the side as we head into 2022, with the possibility of an appearance against Brighton on Sunday, although the England international did expect to be back in the side on Boxing Day, however postponement of fixtures hasn't allowed that.

In other news: Benitez could solve problems by signing Vecino