Chelsea target Romelu Lukaku admits Everton transfer frustration and hints 'the future has to be written'

Tom Doyle16 March 2017

Romelu Lukaku admits he is frustrated by Everton's lack of ambition and says "the future has to be written" with the Belgium international on Chelsea's transfer radar.

Standard Sport understands that Lukaku is on Chelsea’s shortlist for the summer with the striker reluctant to sign a new contract, but Everton will demand in more than the £65million Barcelona paid Liverpool for Luis Suarez in July 2014 - the highest fee received by a British club for a specialist striker.

Everton remain hopeful they can persuade Lukaku to extend his contract despite the 23-year-old telling club officials he will not, and Lukaku has now suggested he needs Champions League football in order to become the best striker in the world.

The Liverpool Echo quotes the former Chelsea striker as saying of the Toffees' ambition: "You have to have the attitude, you have to. Everton as a football club has a great history right.

"But the future has to be written. You get me?

"Because we always talk about the teams of the 80s and 60s and if you look it was great. But we as players, we want the fans talking about us instead of us talking about them. No disrespect, but you know what I mean.

"You want to be remembered as well. No matter where you play you want to be remembered.

"You cannot only be remembered by scoring goals; 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.

"How this club has to grow, how this club has to improve, which player does it want to bring in so you can challenge for the big trophies."

Asked if he can become the top forward on the globe, Lukaku said: "Definitely. Definitely. But to do that, you need the platform to show yourself.

"Then you are talking about Champions League and whatever types of games. I don’t want to go into details on that but you just follow the path that is in front of you. Whatever type of situation, I just try to deliver.

"I’m close. Close. I’m close. At the minute I am one of the best strikers in the league."

Regarding Everton's future plans and transfer approach, Lukaku said: "I don’t know, I don’t know what the board’s plan is. I don’t really know.

"Obviously stuff is changing and stuff is happening, but like I said there were some players that we could have got. That I knew the club could have got and they didn’t get. And they are playing in this league.

"I am not saying names, but they are doing well.

"It is a little bit frustrating but, at the end of the day, we have fantastic players. We cannot look at the others, we can only look at ourselves. We are the only ones to blame. We cannot blame the fans. We cannot blame the manager [Ronald Koeman]."

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