Lukaku close to new Everton deal

Romelu Lukaku has all but agreed a new contract with Everton, according to his agent Mino Raiola.

Lukaku moved to Everton from Chelsea for a club record £28million in 2014 and has scored 70 goals in 142 appearances for the club. He was the subject of rumours about his future last summer but he is under contract to the Toffees until 2019.

Talks over a new deal are close to completion with Raiola confident there will be no issues when it comes to finalising the agreement.

"With Everton, we have 99.9 per cent reached terms," Raiola told talkSPORT. "We are talking to the club in a good spirit so we are very hopeful. There are no problems on the way that I foresee.

"I don't see any big problems. It is a question of putting the details on the paper."

Lukaku has been regularly linked with a move away from Goodison Park and the new contract is unlikely to put an end to the rumours.

While he remained at the club last summer, Raiola offered no guarantees the striker would stay at Everton long-term.

"If Romelu is good enough, strong enough, to move in the next year then we will talk to Everton about it," he added.

"It is a very good relationship at the moment. We know what both parties want.

"Everton is going through a transition from a club that was maybe aiming for Europa League and now they are more ambitious and maybe in the near future will go into the Champions League or maybe even win the Premier League at a certain stage.

"In football, you can't look too much in front. You need to take it one transfer window at a time.

"For now, we are agreeing terms and then we will see in the summer what happens and how the situation is.

"If there is an interest from both parties to move on, then we will talk with the club, but at this point we only have one objective and that is to perform as well as possible for Everton."