Lukaku's agent looking for a permanent move

So CL or he'll be off back to London for a team unlikely to be even in Europe.

Obviously trying to gather interest and bulk up the price in the process. £20 million is a lot, but I suspect that his powers and his value will rise over the next few years and we should try to get him.

I can only see him getting better. Right now his control isn't excellent but he is a good player and will be a great one! Buy him.

I'm not sure what I make of Lukaku. He's scored some vital goals and was great early on in the season. Given his size I always think he should be tormenting defences a lot more than he does and running at them at pace. Quite often I see him dropping deep or drifting out to the flanks. He hasn't made much of an impact against the better teams. I'd like to see him at Goodison next season but it depends on the amount of money that he will cost. I'm confident that RM could unearth some good European alternatives for much less money. Given his comments though throughout the season he seems like another mercenary footballer out to get a big pay day. If he's not interested in playing for Everton then I won't shed any tears.

I quite like the last sentence of that piece - it hints that maybe the team we are now will be seen as good enough for him to join!
Go get him Bobby Brownshoes

Lukaku would be wasting his time playing for Spurs. It is a club of losers, over priced and over paid footballers. Who give the impression of wanting to be a big club, but seldom deliver anything, other than falling out with each other.

Like any player, he wants CL football and CL wages. He can only get one with Everton... possibly.

What a fucking arsehole! Could this be timed any worse for Lukaku or Everton? What he really means is he has had no offers for the player but he's putting it out in the press that he has in order to drum up some interest. Why not keep it in house or wait until the season has finished rather than rock the boat?
Money grabbing gobshite - fuck right off.

Xavier, don't take this the wrong way, but I love that your name comprises of two of the worst Everton transfers ever.

It's the agent's job to find his client a club for next season, so i'm not too worried.

The price quoted seems a bit steep, but given he is still only 20, I think Lukaku could be a good investment in the long term (ie: surely his best days are well ahead of him, and we'll be able to make a sizeable profit one day). I know it's lame thinking of sell-on fees with potential signings, but unfortunately that's the game our club is in.

Spurs are drunk if they think he will go there. I don't think there is a more deluded club around. They spend like a drunken sailor and were blathering about a title challenge all last summer look how that ended up. Have to agree with @764.

If Lukaku goes to a Dortmund or Barca then fair enough but to go to someone like Spurs a drastically worst team than ours would be idiotic. Levy gets on my tits!

Come on Nick there have been far worse than those two - Ray Atteveld, Mitch Ward, Carl Tiler, Alex Njarko, Alec Cleland, Brett Angell. The list is endless!

I think its great news to be honest and for exactly the same reasons Xavier states.

If he was really in huge demand from Europes biggest clubs his agent wouldnt be seen or heard of. This means that either no-one or, at least, no-one of greater stature than us are in for him.

End result will be one of two things....first...he'll be more and more amenable to staying with us if we can raise the brass (however big an IF that is) and ...secondly...he's playing for his future right now. If he wanted to slink off and mentally start his holidays early knowing he was off to bigger and better things next season he bloody well knows he cant do that now!.

Of course in the above case Lukaku 'really trying' means its more likely we will attain a placing that might just let us keep him.

Hardly bad news is it?

i was a big fan of his and was delighted we got him on loan, but after watching him over the season I think £20mill could be better spent elsewhere, Remy has a £10mill buyout clause and would be a better fit for us , Bony has impressed me as well and either of those two would be better value than Big Rom.

Looking for a bit of info on the fee Chelsea paid to Anderlecht, I came across this ;

Link

The trouble with reported fees is that they are tied into appearances, International games, or even trophies for the purchasing club. So let's say Chelsea have paid £20m, they could possibly want between £25-30m.

Don't get me wrong, he's already a good player who may even go on to be great, but surely there are better options for that sort of money? Additionally, that's probably our whole budget for the summer anyway, I can't see Roberto blowing the lot on one player.

You wouldn't imagine Chelsea will let him leave without making a large profit if he's in demand. After all, Abramovich is well sorted for lawnmower money!

The timing of this is a bit odd I find. The season's not even over and given that Lukaku will be at the WC in a couple of months I would have thought he and his agent would wait until then to decide what to do. If he scores a few goals in the WC his value will go up and he'll have more options.

Maybe this is some ruse to put pressure on us to tie him up before he's 'snapped up' by another club. Either way, the main thing for us (and him) right now is the next 7 games. any transfer talk now is just an unnecessary distraction for everyone.

The lads only twenty and probably won't reach his absolute peak for another four to six years. By then he'd be totally out of our price range IF he fulfils his potential, which I think is very likely given that he seems an intelligent lad who knows whats what. Would I pay the reported £20 million asking price? It's gonna be a catch 22 situation. If he helps get us to the CL his price will rocket or Chelsea won't let him stay with us fpr another season. If he doesn't he'd probably want away anyway.....The joys of being an Evertonian eh?

The only way I can see us getting Romelu is if we can pay in instalments, like say £10 mill up front and the rest paid over a few years. But that would no doubt end up with Chelsea using that debt as some kind of leverage to finally get Ross and what with our board’s track record, they will probably cash in when there’s no money available again.

I would love to see him here permanently but not at the expense of Ross, he seems to fit our club, will always get a good goal tally every season, and improve over the years – but anything over £20 mill is to much for us I think.

However,I think he is another player who is very important in Martinez’s plans and I do think he’ll be here next season somehow.

To be fair to Romelu, he’s a smart kid and if he or his camp has been saying that CL football will entice him to stay; it might be because he knows that’s the only way we could afford him, rather than any mercenary ideas. I never got that vibe off of him anyway. I read one of the first stories about all this early this morning here in San Francisco (before all the headlines read that he’s obviously off to Tottenham), and it stated via the tweets from RL’s agent and quotes from Belgian paper HNB:

"Whilst Lukaku’s agent Christophe Henrotay admits he has spoken to Spurs chairman Daniel Levy, all indications at the current time suggest Everton are still the most likely permanent destination for Lukaku, who is owned by Chelsea....Henrotay calls discussions with Tottenham as “nonsense” and says he is in regular contact with Everton over the future of Lukaku...Crucially, according to Belgian newspaper HNB, Lukaku is keen to stay at Goodison Park and much will depend on this Sunday’s game with Arsenal."

So, you never know. Hey, it might be the first positive thing we’ve had about us coming out of a Belgian paper.

Nick (767), how do you think my good friend Claus Hottiger feels?

Here's the link to the article Chris is mentioning, even for the non-Dutch-speaking readers the title probably speaks for itself

http://www.nieuwsblad.be/sportwereld/cnt/dmf20140402_01053058

"Everton in poleposition om Lukaku te kopen".

The article is saying he isn't interested in Spurs and wants to stay with us, this according to his agent. They're speculating that we need CL qualification to have the money to buy him. Price quoted is indeed £20 million.

If he's a good football man, and has sound advice he'll know that Everton is the best place for him at this stage of his career - if wants to live in London, earn more money and play for an absolute basket-case of a club then he'll go to Spurs.

I just don't get it with Lukaka and Chelsea's manager. After last nights terrible effort where even I could have probably done better The Special One is cutting off his nose to spite his face.

I have a real feeling we will have him as an Everton player next year.

We have the spine of a really good team and will be in Europe next season the only point is which competition.

The beauty of getting into CL means that will give us the money to buy Lukaka and still have a pot for others.

Have to agree with Tim Howard though in yesterday's Guardian. The top 4 for Everton does not solely rely on a win on Sunday

I thought for the first time at Fulham he celebrated as one of the very happy team

Lukaku joined Chelsea for 10m with add ons that could take it upto around 15m-17m. I very much doubt they paid anything near 20m for him

Linda, it seems to me that biting of his nose is what Mourinho does best. Although it's hard to argue with his record.

Whatever the exact reason for his falling out of love (to use a phrase he likes to use) with Lukaku, I can't see him returning to Chelsea.

I think there is no doubt that Chelsea will offload Lukaku in the summer along with a lot of the 24 players they have on loan. There is no doubt that Mourhino will use these loan players along with money from Torres and Ba to have a war chest to buy some World class strikers.

Me personally I would do whatever it takes to get Lukaku, he is still very young and has proved that he will get better and better under RM, and just as important to have Ferguson teaching him about how to improve as a centre forward. I cant remember us having a centre forward as a coach, I know Joe Royle managed us but I cant remember one coaching the first team. I feel it is as much a specialized position as goalkeeper, yet for some reason very few clubs employ forward coaches,yet cant imagine a club not having a goalkeeping coach. I would also want the deal done well before the World Cup, because if Belgium and Lukaku impress then he will be out of our price range.

Lindu #807, The Special One is renowned for falling out with players, and once he does very rarely is there any way back for the player. He's like a cross between Brian Clough and Clive Thomas. He thinks he's always right, and everyone else is wrong.

Sadly I don't think we'll be getting him as we just won't have the money. Despite the increased TV money, and 2 negative net spends in successive windows (after a low average net spend for ever it seems) under this regime we won't be signing £20m players anytime soon. Only if he's a down-payment for Barkley will we get him.

Has a poor touch but scores goals and has definitely made a difference. Even so, at £20m I think we'll be looking elsewhere.

Can I just throw in the question what on earth can we expect from Kone next season? Would we sell him to help buy Lukaku? I know a lot depends on whether we get champions league.

The only thing less likely than Chelsea selling Lukaku to us, is Chelsea selling him to a team like Spurs where he may prove to be more of a threat to Chelsea. Spurs do have a large squad of quality players, so on paper would be more likely to challenge for a top 4 than us.

Lukaku will probably end up going abroad; spain, italy or germany, or stay at Chelsea perhaps.

Reading the posts everyone seems to think keeping him would be a good deal. Personally I would like to see him, Remy plus another brought in. 3 quality strikers are needed if we are going to be competing on 2 fronts.

So the question really is price: strikers are expensive, goals win games. So whoever we buy it is likely we are going to over pay. When I read £20m I think this be getting you the nuts, but then again I am surprised that polos don't cost 10p. So for a striker who bagged 17 goals last year, has potential to hit around that this year, and get better is £20m over the top? Probably not.

I agree his touch is not excellent, he does not have electric pace, but he can finish. I think if we could retain our current team, including Del Boy, add more players. Strikers x 2, keeper x 1, Mid x 3 and 1 def. We would be very well placed to make a decent challenge on the domestic front and the European stage.

No way will be breaking are transfer record any time soon, if he stays it will be on an other seasons loan or part of a deal for Barkley. Think are top spend on one player will be £8 to 10mill max, but I trust Roberto to get it right..

Craig Walker - 752 - can you please do me a favour and provide chapter and verse in Lu’s exact words the ’comments’ you mention here: "Given his comments though throughout the season he seems like another mercenary footballer out to get a big pay day."

I simply can’t recall any such comments so it would be illuminating for me to hear from you Lu’s exact words that made you write this... his words – not your impression of them.

Ta.

The trouble with Lukaku is he thinks he is too good for us, and even if qualifying for the CL did have him stay on, a key question to ask prior to putting that sort of money on the table is: would he spit the dummy if we were not consistent qualifiers?
He wants too much to walk into already high achieving teams, and that may become an issue.
Ability wise, I would be very happy to see him stay, however I'm not sure if he has the graft in him to want to be a part a project which will essentially always have to punch above it's weight.

Finance wise, spurs may suit him, Looking at how the Bale cash was splashed, in one season Levy went from being shrewd dealer, to a fool and his money.......

IMO, re the price, if we manage to do a deal before the WC, I really cannot see any club willing to pay 20m+ for Lukaku. He's young and scored about a dozen goals this season but that doesn't put him in the 20m bracket just yet. Chelsea want rid of him and everyone knows that so I cannot see them holding out for a massive fee, especially when they didn't pay that much themselves. Think they're more concerned about getting Torres off the wage bill.

I believe if we want him and he wants to stay, we could probably get him for 12-15m, especially if a player like Remy is going for around the same price. I think with some added compettion in the squad he'll also play a lot better. Right now, there is no alternative up front. If we had him and Kone both fit, then we're not too bad up front. Given we only play with one striker, not sure we need three. Maybe we can get a young loanee in with an option to buy as well, just to keep the two senior guys on their toes.

Personally I can see all out 3 loanees being with us next season, one way or another.

I believe that we have a chance of getting Lukaku. We must take it. There in a no possibility of us getting Lalana or any of the other new must buys. However, Lukaku is possible. If we got him plus, say, Holtby, we might be looking good.

I think he’s a great lad but has delusions of grandeur.

Just a quick note of caution on the '4th spot and we have money for Lukaku' message that keeps repeating.

Not to put a downer on it lads but remember 4th spot is 'only' the qualifying stages and not the group stages where the golden European goose lives. We may not know, for real, whether we are going to get into the Group stages until near the end of August even if we were to finish 4th. In some ways, despite being a massive accomplishment, it could make RM's job with transfers a really tricky one to get right.

Given the positive sort of bloke he seems to be I'm sure its a problem he'd be up for tackling, but, he'd be due a lot of leniency from the fans if he was very careful in what he decided to bring in.

Don’t forget we may have Treore as a plan B!

Good point, Steve Jones (848)

I can't see Lukaku hanging around at Chelsea until the end of August - waiting to see if we make it to CL Group stages. It looks clear that there is no future for him at Chelsea while 'The Special one' is in charge.....so more than likely, he will want his future resolved nice and early so he can get a pre-season under his belt with a new club.

If we do make it to the CL Group stages, it begs the question: will Martinez have sufficient time left to identify the players he wants? Will the players he wants already have been snapped up by other clubs?

I think Martinez will just work with the £20-25 million budget he's got and get players in early, so he can integrate them into the squad pre-season.

In my opinion, we are better off shopping abroad where there is more value for money. We have a scouting system for a reason.....its about identifying the correct players for a reasonable price.

Edit to 848: End of the 1st week of August. Basic point being not very bloody long to get deals hammered out for high quality players!.

In my crystal ball, I see lots of TWebbers getting their knickers in a twist and some are even wetting the aforementioned nether garments over what is media speculation (aka bollocks). Why do people continue to comment/get wound up on page fillers? For several seasons TW has run rumour mill and if all the players linked with us had come to fruition we would have had a squad that resembled a crowd scene from Ben Hur (I'm Sparticus! – Oh sorry, wrong movie)

BTW I had a look at the link http://www.nieuwsblad.be/sportwereld/cnt/dmf20140402_01053058
"Everton in poleposition om Lukaku te kopen".

I clicked the "Translate" button, and got this:

Everton is in pole position to take Romelu Lukaku Chelsea. Finally over The club manager Roberto Martinez hopes of qualifying for the Champions League and has to deal with the violence of Tottenham million.

Told you what they write is bollocks.

Blimey David, that sounds as daft as backing Swing Bill to win the National because it reminds you of our lucky chairman.

Don’t get carried away people. Bill is still in charge the last time I checked and that usually means non or very little cash to spend. I guess one decent signing (about £15m) loans, and the rest being spent on Finch Farm as an excuse as to why we haven’t spent more. Hope I’m wrong, but I just can’t see it.

Torres and Ba will be shipped out leaving Eto'o. Lukaku will stay with Chelsea I'm sure. If Mourinho has said some unfavourable things about Lukaku, they pale to what he's said about Lady Boy and erm, Sheep Sound Man... Yeah Sheep Sound Man!

Apparently Lukaku is an intelligent guy who studies all aspects of the game... please study your fellow countryman, Romelu!! ... Maroune Fellaini!!

He too was a player who deserved Champions League football, big wages, couldn't fulfill his ambitions with us etc etc!! Anybody that watched him against Bayern Munich realises not only has he ruined his career but he thought he was a lot better than he actually is.

How players who are already millionaires can go from basically being gods at one club to a laughing stock at another or spending half the season on the bench is beyond me.

My view is: fine, if he hasn't the intelligence to see how good we could be for his career as top dog in a very good side, then join Spurs!! In fact, ask Stevie Pienaar how that went for him?? Or Rodwell?? Or Barmby?? Etc etc etc...

Everton don't buy £20 Million players - PERIOD.

Agree with you Nick on the fate of Bah and Torments and likely fate of Lukaku, but if not them then us. RM has worked magic into making players want to stay here so really eager to see if he stays permanently. I feel the agent's comments is actually good from our view but he could still end up elsewhere of course.

I would actually be surprised if he goes for more than £15m... has he ever laced his boots for Chelsea?

Also, I would like to think the "fact" that we paid £5m for a season from him will be discounted against any future fee arranged. So, if they do say £20m, well, we paid you £5m already, etc... And before I'm shot down, the first rule of negotiation is: If you don't ask, you don't get.

I do remind myself he is very young but, when given the chance, seems to find the back of the net quite often; if we had one player who would rather pass than shoot, he might have bagged more.

Rom to Spurs? If Pienaar hasn't a lesson to give him and he isn't smart enough to heed it, well fuck 'em both off.

A very compelling case from a Chelsea fan:
http://www.chelsea.vitalfootball.co.uk/article.asp?a=542189

If you don't want to wade through the whole article, it can be summed up in:

Let me be very clear on where I stand on this matter just the way I was crystal clear on my opposition to the sale and ejection of Danny Sturridge and just as I was crystal clear on my opposition to ever purchasing El Nino in the first place; if we run the kraken out of town and sell him of to some other team within a few years hence we will look so stupid that it will make the Sturridge and El Nino Debacles look like cake walks. Mark it down.

So Chelsea buy a young striker and sell him 3 years later when he has never scored a single goal for them and they want a huge profit. How does that work then?

If the price is right, then okay... but I would not break the bank. If there is any messing about, I would say ta ra!!!

Lukaku could be a great signing if we land him permanently. I know the mixed some of us feel concerning his contribution since arriving last summer. However, I think he would have scored a lot more had he played for Chelsea this year. The service he 's getting from our midfield doesn't come close to what he could have enjoyed there. Which brings to the need to strengthen our attacking midfield significantly; this is our Achilles heel.

After all the transfer business with Modric, I don't think Chelsea will sell to Spurs.

It was probably Mourinho that started all this coming out in the media.

Even the Swedish newspapers are writing that he wants to sell "All his forwards". That includes Lukaku.

If you are a journalist it is an easy job to talk to the players agents.. and you have the speculation rolling.

#908. You can't say that Everton don't buy £20 million players. If you think it is a good deal, and you have the money, you buy. Unless you have better opportunities.

But show me the better opportunities than buying Lukaku. After one season in Everton, the risk of buying Lukaku is lower than for one year ago.

Apparently he fits in the Everton Martinez style. If you go for a new player, you are not sure of any outcome at all.

Mourinho told reporters: "Have we had any approaches? No. I don't think that it's the time to speak about it. He's a Chelsea player, but at the same time, he's an Everton player until the end of the season. We want to respect that. Everton are a good club for a loan. Our player is there and our player is playing."

I read the key part of Mourinho's statement, which would be "Have we had any approaches? No."

When I read that, it seems to me to be "much ado about nothing" - in other words, the usual shite sprouted by the red-tops and journos trying to get their crap out.

Can't see him being here next season other than on loan.

I presume Roberto will bring in someone to replace him - a Spanish kid on loan ?- to support his other star signings of Kone and Traore .

An abundance of riches, don't you think?

Nice post Phil. Not provocative in the least.

there will be be no leverage required for Barkley as Sir Phillip Green will take care of the details.

With Benteke out for 6 months Lukaku might get the chance to make a big impression in the World Cup.

Can't see Lukaku here next season. I reckon he'll probably end up at Dortmund, Monaco or athletico Madrid.

Oh my god.. so much negativity here that I get sick.
First Lukaku is not too good... then he will never play in Everton other than on loan etc etc. What a load of bs.
Ridiculous. You negative people would have said exactly the same thing before this season. And you know what? Lukaku came to play in Everton. That was a bomb.
Now he is here and we have a good chance to keep him. Especially if we beat Arsenals ass tomorrow.

After seeing Lukaku's celebration with Martinez yesterday, I'm a lot more hopeful that we can sign him when the window opens. The lad clearly loves it here at Everton and if he wants to force a move then it'll happen.

No way that Chelsea will let Lukaku join a competitor. I mean they only let Mata join United because they were 7th ...

If it was up to the lad himself he would probably stay - but it isn't and Roman and Jose will have a big say in where he goes and for how much. They may even decide to keep him - but we'd have to be very fortunate to get him and I don't know whether RM would use so much of his budget on a single purchase.

I think the role Roberto plays in this might swing it for us. Looking at Lukaku's reaction after scoring, I think he loves playing for a manager who believes in him, can improve him more so than he would at Chelsea. Also Romelu looks around at the likes of, Baines, Coleman, Barkley, Mirallas (Fellow Belgian friend, who convinced him to come) and must realise that he can go places with this team. If we get Champions league I think he will, if we don't im not sure.

I can’t believe some of the rubbish I’m reading. Rom seems to be a young man with his head screwed on. He has a goal to be the best he can be, an admirable quality in my opinion.

I think he will choose us, if we are an option. In other words, if we can afford him. I believe Roberto wants him, and he wants us. Bill, make it happen!!! £18 million will do it.

Money wise, we're definitely out of the race, but if Rom pulls a stunt or something, e.g. refuse all other clubs and force another loan or lower fee, yes, we might have a chance. I rather he convince Mou to let him come for another loan than throw a tantrum or force a cheaper sale though. Not a good reflection if that happens.

I think it all depends on Champions League football. If we can offer it then I can't see why he wouldn't want to be the main man here rather that as a rotation option at Chelsea who are sure to make a bid money bid for the likes of Hulk / Falcao / Cavani etc... He clearly likes playing for Martinez and seems happy at Everton.

It would mean spending a large chunk of the transfer budget on one player, but he is only 20 and can only get better and better so it would be a sensible investment. It would certainly be a statement of intent by the club. We spent £15M on a relatively unknown Fellaini and £12M on Bilyaletdinov, so I can't see why £18-20M for Lukaku is beyond us. There is a good chance this is why Martinez held back in January!

If we don't qualify for the Champions League there are other options though. Michy Batshuayi looks like a star of the future and is about the same age as Lukaku. Also his stock shouldn't rise too much during the World Cup if Benteke and Lukaku are first choice for Belgium.