Romelu Lukaku rejected Everton contract because he says the club lacks ambition and failed to sign big-name players
Lukaku stunned Toffees chiefs when he told them he wouldn't sign the five-year extension they thought was all but agreed
ROMELU LUKAKU has revealed how Everton’s lack of ambition is the key reason he is refusing to sign a new deal.
On Tuesday Lukaku stunned Goodison chiefs, when he told them he would not sign the five-year contract extension Toffees top brass thought was all but agreed.
Now he has lifted the lid on how he is convinced he can become one of the world’s top hitmen – but clearly isn’t convinced it can happen if he stays at Goodison.
Lukaku reckons he is close to being spoken of in the same breath as the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Luis Suarez, yet must play at the highest level to prove it.
And Everton failure to move forward as quickly as he was promised last year means he sees the only way of getting to the top is away from Merseyside.
Lukaku, whose current deal runs out in 2019, revealed: “Everton as a football club has a great history, but the future has to be written, you get me?
“We always talk about the teams of the 80s and 70s and it was great, but we we want the fans talking about. No disrespect but you want to remembered as well.
“You want to be remembered by winning trophies at the end of the day. So instead of living in the past, you have to think ahead.
“You have to think how this club has to grow, how it has to improve, which player does it want to bring in so you can challenge for the big trophies.
“I don’t know what the board’s plan is, but there were some players I knew the club could have got and they didn’t, and they’re playing in this league. I am not saying names, but they are doing well.”
Lukaku, 23, has always been single-minded in his ambitions. He was the teenager who told Jose Mourinho he wanted out of Chelsea in his determination to get first team action.
He doesn’t flinch when asked whether he deserves mentioning in the same breath as Europe’s finest hitmen.
And it also led to a damning sideswipe at Harry Kane, when quizzed as to whether he studies at the Spurs striker as one of those he can learn from.
He added: “I look at Luis Suarez, Roberto Lewandowski, Karim Benzema, Edinson Cavani. That’s it. I’m not looking at the rest. No chance.
“He (Kane) is a top player and you want to see top players in the league, so I am sad he is injured. Everyone wants to see top players in the league and it is sad for Tottenham and him.
“But I don’t look at other players if they aren’t going to teach me anything. If I don’t have the feeling that you are going to teach me something, why should I look at you?
“I watch what they do in certain moments and I think ‘that’s interesting.’ I’m close to that, I’m close. At the minute I am one of the best strikers in the league.
“I can’t NOT say that. If I don’t say I am one of the best I am shooting myself in the head. At the minute I am one of the best in the Premier League, 100 per cent.
“I am not scared of anything. But at the end of the day fans want to see trophies, players want trophies so we need to try more, give a bit more.
“You should not shy away from it. Like if you don’t win a trophy there is something that has gone wrong because if you have the belief that you can do something, you can do it.”
Lukaku also admitted how conversations with big Belgian pal Vincent Kompany at Manchester City made him even more determined to win major honours.
Kompany has been one of the major players in City’s emergence as a real force since the Dubai millions arrived – and Lukaku is increasingly envious.
He revealed: “I speak to Vincent, who was at City when it all happened. He said ‘Rom, one summer I just came in and boom, boom, boom, boom…
“We had Robinho from there, that guy came in, this guy came in, this guy came in. Everyone was criticising them but at the end it was league titles, and FA Cup here, League Cups there.
“That is what we want as players. But I don’t know - I don’t know what the board’s plan is. I don’t really know.”
- Romelu Lukaku is one of Kick It Out’s Next 20 ambassadors and was speaking at a coaching session with Everton in the Community’s girls pan-disability team.