If there is one player whom the Everton fans can handpick to arrive at Goodison Park this summer, it would undoubtedly be Romelu Lukaku.
The young Belgian became a fans favourite at the club following his brilliant loan spell last season and the Toffees’ faithful would certainly bite Chelsea’s arm off if given the opportunity to re-sign Lukaku.
However, for quite a while, it seemed unlikely that Everton would bring back Lukaku to Goodison Park due to his extremely high asking price which is believed to be around £20million.
In recent times though, the hierarchy have been making the right noises that they will facilitate the return of Lukaku to the club and with the arrival of Diego Costa as well as Didier Drogba to Chelsea, it seems that the Blues are more than happy to part with the young Belgian if a particular club is willing to match their asking price of the player.
That being said, bringing back Lukaku to Everton is not as straightforward as it seems due to the fact that a host of clubs – namely Wolfsburg, Tottenham Hotspur and even the mighty Real Madrid are said to be interested in the 21-year old sensation.
But, Everton fans will now be happy to hear that the club have already started making plans to facilitate the return of Lukaku.
Firstly, manager Roberto Martinez sounded extremely confident of the striker returning when queried by a fan during their pre-season tour and to further fuel speculation, the club’s Head of Recruitment Ian Atkins has stated that Lukaku wants a return to Everton.
Atkins said, “Romelu had a terrific season for Everton last year and I know everyone at the football club wants to see him back. Hopefully things can be sorted out, I think he’s quite settled in his mind that he wants to come to Everton, and hopefully he’ll be pulling on our blue shirt again next term.
“I know the manager would like back him at Everton and I’m sure if he comes he’ll be a great asset and can help us get to that next level of European football.”
While the signing of Lukaku will certainly burn a hole in the pocket of the Everton hierarchy, the striker’s return will be well worth the money spent and more importantly, it will be a huge signal of intent that the Toffees are ready to make the step up to the next level.
