Everton do not have to cash in on Romelu Lukaku, says Roberto Martínez
• Belgium striker is under contract for more than three years
• Everton head to Manchester United on Sunday needing a win

Everton’s Romelu Lukaku keeps busy during training at Finch Farm on Friday. Photograph: Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images
Andy Hunter
Roberto Martínez has told Romelu Lukaku the striker’s future will be decided on Everton’s terms, with the club’s new “financial muscle” making this summer the wrong time to leave Goodison Park.
Lukaku cast further doubt on his Everton career during the international break
by admitting he wants Champions League football next season, Martínez’s team having failed to challenge the top four despite 18 league goals from the Belgium international. The 22-year-old’s agent, Mino Raiola, has since claimed Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus are interested in a striker who has scored 25 times in total this term.
Martínez admits the next two months are pivotal to Everton and not only in terms of persuading Lukaku to continue developing at Goodison. The
Everton manager, under growing criticism with the team 12th in the Premier League, said there is a responsibility “not just on the players but myself too” to show they can satisfy ambitions that have heightened since the billionaire Farhad Moshiri acquired a 49.9% stake in the club.
But he cited last summer’s
refusal to sell John Stones to the champions Chelsea as evidence of Everton’s determination to keep key talents and has warned Lukaku, who has more than three years remaining on his contract, that stance has not altered. “Rom wants to be important and he is important to our team,” Martínez said. “He is talking about aspirations and that is what we want at Everton – to be in the Champions League and win titles. We share our ambitions. The aspiration of Romelu Lukaku is the aspiration of Everton.
“
Cristiano Ronaldo left Manchester United – that is the modern game. Sometimes players need a fresh challenge and to move on but the important thing is the club is in control. We don’t have to cash in and we showed that last summer with John. In the summer we are going to make decisions in the same way.”
Martínez had earlier made the outlandish claim he did not fear losing Lukaku as, under Moshiri, Everton can financially “compete against anyone in world football. Things have changed radically in that respect”. He later clarified: “When you have got the financial muscle to compete against anyone in your league then you are in a good position. Obviously it takes a bit of time to put in place because of financial rules but I think you can see it is a realistic challenge now.
“What Mr Moshiri is bringing is a desire to be the best we can and to be the best in the British game. We started with aspects in the structure of the club and now it is about the direction of the team – we want to be a winning team, get in the Champions League and win titles. He knows we have to keep the players who are going to take Everton to the next level. In the same way, we need to recognise that players who want to stay at our football club won’t have a worry that they can’t get the financial rewards they can get elsewhere. That’s not a worry any more.”
Before Everton can prove their financial strength in this summer’s transfer market, however, Martínez admits the onus is on him and his team to salvage this campaign, with the side languishing in mid-table but in the semi-finals of the FA Cup.
The manager, who takes his team to Manchester United on Sunday, added: “We are a football club with an incredible history, a winning history and, after 21 years without winning a trophy, we have a new investor and it is a new era for the football club.
“It is a new beginning and the players know that. But there is a responsibility on the players to achieve this season, and not just on the players but myself too, the fans and everyone connected to the football club. We have to put ourselves in a position where we have to achieve over the next two months. At that point the individual situations will be very clear.”