Lukaku edges closer to Toffees exit

Romelu Lukaku scored 25 Premier League goals last season for Everton.
Romelu Lukaku scored 25 Premier League goals last season for Everton.

LONDON • Everton striker Romelu Lukaku said yesterday that he has decided where he wants to move ahead of the next season, and had reached an agreement with another as yet unnamed club.

The 24-year-old, who moved to Everton in 2014 after a season-long loan spell, has been linked with his former club Chelsea as well as Manchester United and Bayern Munich in recent weeks by the British media.

"My agent knows what's going to happen and I know as well. I'm staying calm and we have an agreement with the club as well. We stay calm and at least we have a direction where we want to go," the Belgium international told Sky Sports.

"I'm just going to rest for a few days and then just prepare for next season. I want to put the time in on my holiday to take everything to another level and be better than I was last year."

Lukaku was Everton's top scorer last season with 25 goals in 36 Premier League appearances. Only Golden Boot winner Harry Kane (29) of Tottenham scored more goals than Lukaku.

Lukaku helped his team secure a seventh-placed finish but in March rejected a new contract - the most lucrative in the club's history - to extend his stay at Goodison Park.

His agent, Mino Raiola, said last week that Everton would allow him to leave if "certain clubs" met the £100 million (S$178 million) price tag placed on him by the Merseyside club.

According to British newspaper The Independent, Lukaku has made up his mind to return to Stamford Bridge. Chelsea sold him to Everton for £28 million in 2014.

He has hinted that he wants to remain in England's top-flight.

"At the moment the Premier League is the best league for me," said Lukaku, who has a combined 85 Premier League goals from his time with Chelsea, West Brom and Everton. "After six years, I know the league through and through. I want to reach the 100-goal mark."

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on June 07, 2017, with the headline Lukaku edges closer to Toffees exit. Subscribe