Romelu Lukaku will not sign a new Everton contract
Romelu Lukaku has reportedly told Everton he will not sign a new contract with the club.
Romelu Lukaku has informed Everton he won’t sign a new contract with the club, per Paul Joyce of The Times.
Romelu Lukaku has told Everton he will not sign a new contract.
— paul joyce (@_pauljoyce) March 14, 2017
The news will come as a big blow for the Toffees, who have made big strides under new manager Ronald Koeman in large part thanks to the Belgian’s goals. Lukaku is the Premier League’s joint top scorer with 19 goals, and has assisted five more.
Everton had offered the forward a five year, £100,000-a-week contract, which he was, according to his agent, 99.9 percent sure he would sign. Lukaku’s current deal runs until 2019, however, so the Toffees have no need to go into panic mode right now, but the decision is a major blow for a club hoping to establish themselves among the European elite.
They’ll likely now be forced to sell off their biggest asset, who they bought for £28 million ahead of the 2014-15 season. They’ve certainly gotten their money’s worth so far — Lukaku became Everton’s record Premier League goal scorer after a late goal against Tottenham two weeks ago. The goal was his 61st in the top flight, one more than Everton legend Duncan Ferguson.
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The task for Everton now is to decide on their next move. Lukaku will surely demand a significant transfer fee, but there aren’t many 20-goal-a-season strikers lying around to replace him. They may need to refocus on the youth-first policy Koeman has implemented over the past several months, blooding teenagers Tom Davies and Ademola Lookman into the starting lineup.
For Lukaku, the next step is surely a Champions League club. He was never given an opportunity to prove himself at Chelsea, but he’s likely to be linked with a move back to the west London club, especially with rumors flying about Diego Costa’s potential move to the Chinese Super League.