Lukaku promises goals once he is fully fit

Given the lack of striking reinforcements, much will depend on Romelu this season. Hope he's up for it.

His arm waving when he wont run onto a pass is annoying enough, let alone his downing tools when it suits him. Personally I can't wait till he leaves.

People not rating Rom are silly, including these other supporters you talk about. I'm sorry, but the striker's job is to score goals. And he does that, which scares defenders, which opens room for our other players.

Like him, or dislike him, Rom is really good at his job when he wants to be. Any team not rating a player at his age scoring his amount of goals are, again, just silly.

Should we go back to Vic? Maybe Stracq? He would be perfect for those of us not rating Rom based on him not sprinting all the time.

No, think I prefer a frustrating player, who scores tons of goals and helps the team.

Perhaps he could have been fitter coming back after his hols, but 1.6 games in and he's getting slagged off already! Against West Brom he came on and just his presence changed the game, as the 7 centre halves then had something to do. He got in the right positions and could have scored, if he wasn't a bit ring rusty, from Bolasie's pass.

On another day he would have claimed the match ball against Stoke, but a bit of hard luck, trying too hard (ironically) and strong defending foiled him. He is getting singled out for daring to suggest that there might be better career opportunities elsewhere. Get off his back for goodness sake and let him play without the intense heat of having to score in every game as well as win them for us. Ditto Barkley, Jagielka, Funes Mori, Deulofeu et al.

Sorry, I don't share the same opinion as you but he is not top drawer and doesn't score tons of goals...

The best thing for you is to quit moaning and start scoring goals for Everton and then maybe just maybe teams will start taking notice of you again. Words are cheap.

You may fulfill your dream and get a move to China. No Champions League football but they pay well.

Lukaku could have his best season ever, thanks to Ronald, as I expect a few other players will too. Whatever Lukaku's contract is worth, he is going to have to earn every penny; there will be no slackers in the Everton camp from now on.

Check other top scorers' barren runs and you will find that Lukaku's has exceeded them all.

This is not a commitment, just a wait-and-see situation, and it fits in nicely with the short-term approach developing at the club.

Analysts my backside. It's just vindictive.

Whatever the merits of the transfer window, Koeman is building a stronger, more physical team playing with pace. Ideal for a decent striker methinks.

I've had a few quid on Lukaku scoring 20 this season. If he can score at the rate he did with a slow-playing, weak team, I'm looking forward to collecting next summer.

I am sure he will soon start sweeping them in and that his detractors will have to hold fire, until he opens his big gob again and mutters something about big clubs etc.

I hope to see Bolasie and Valencia provide him with better service and I know he will get back in the groove. He is annoying, but not as annoying as watching Kone shank shots all over the place.

Remember when Torres went to Chelsea? Well he was prolific for the RS and he's scored the sum total of about 30 goals in the years since he left them, playing for various clubs in Italy, Spain and England.

Injuries happen, defenders wise up, the player loses confidence, the players around him change! There are no sureties in football, no guarantees.

In the last two seasons, Lukaku has scored 45... yes, FORTY-FIVE goals. That sounds like a ton of goals to me.

The fact we finished 11th in both those seasons is not down to Lukaku; it was down to poor defending and, more importantly, piss poor management.

Every striker goes through a barren spell when they can't score. Lukaku will come good again soon.

But yeah, according to you, let's sell Lukaku, get a shed full of money, and buy players like Big Vic and Naismith. Players who will run till they drop, show plenty of enthusiasm and willing, but can't score goals. Pathetic!!

Seeing it lying there, he walks around frantically. He steps on a Coca Cola bottle and suddenly a great plume of smoke arises from it. When the smoke dissipates, there stands a great big Genie, arms folded.

GENIE: "You have called upon the Genie of the Coca Cola bottle, you have one wish and one wish only."

RK: 'Great , you have arrived just in time. Do you see that dog there? Well, it's the Mrs preferred pooch, I am for a serious stay in the Doghouse and a right bolloking when she finds out. Is there any chance you could bring it back to life?

GENIE: "Sorry, master, but giving life can be difficult, if it doesn't work, I myself could he rendered powerless."

RK: "Oh shit! What am I going to do?"

GENIE: "You do still have a wish, Master!"

RK: Oh, great. As I have been frantically searching for a striker to give Lukaku a kick up the arse without success, I was wondering... We do still have a piece of deadwood at Finch Farm called Omar Niasse, a legacy of my incompetent predecessor. My wish is for you to rejuvenate him. Turn him into a cocktail of Messi, Ronaldo, Suarez. That he will go marauding and traumatising defences through out the land... Please!"

GENIE: [rubbing his chin, with raised eyebrows...] "Could I just take one more look at that dog?"

What? You've already got one? Phew! Cherish him and nurture him, Ron, because there isn't anyone out there that can replace him. Not without chucking £70 odd million at him (before wages) and hoping he would come to us.

Seriously, Koeman knows what he's got, hence the price tag to keep him.

Whether some of you like it or not, he is one of us so let's cut him some slack – he just needs one and the rest will come.

You slate my post but remind me how many chances this oaf had at Wembley against Man Utd – a top striker would have buried at least one of those.

Also, Saints finished 6th and 7th in last 2 seasons with Long and Pelle as strikers both give more effort than your prize superstar. It's all about opinions: you have yours, I have mine.

Sell a 20+ a season goalscorer and get somebody in who will run his bollocks off but doesn't score the amount of goals anywhere near what Lukaku has.

It's pathetic, it really is.

Just text us when you are ready....

13 games and counting.

He DID want a move back to Chelsea but I suspect, like us, he is feeling frustrated with what he thought was going to be a sensational transfer window. Having been told he was staying, he was presumably promised his countryman Witsel along with several others.

There is a piece in The Mirror today that says "Farhad Moshiri is dismayed with the window and heads will roll if it happens again". We need to take that with a pinch of salt because it could well be a pile of made-up guff but, if there is some truth in what it says, it may just be that he has only stayed because of exorbitant promises. It does not bode well if he has been lied to because he is a sulker and he will feel he has been lied to.

He's not an Evertonian, he does not come the school of a paid professional there to do his job. He is sulker and, as good as he is on his day, I feel we should have cashed in. It was actually quite a good window, all things considered, but he won't see it that way. He will need to buckle down or we are in for a long goal drought. Here's hoping not...

"Rom is really good at his job when he wants to be."

And here lies the problem for many blues. Along with his infamous inability at hold-up / back-to-goal play which would soon be forgiven if he addressed point A.

I think Rom is without doubt the best forward we've had since the eighties. But for many, including myself, with some consistent focus, effort and a dash of maturity, he could be a lot better.

I am the type of true Evertonian who stays until the last whistle, gets a hoarse voice trying to get behind the team when we are 2-0 down with a few minutes to go, reserves the right to offer constructive help to our players, not boo them, etc etc. So I'll continue to back Rom, Barkley, Jags etc.

I will get behind Valencia to help him be a "closer to the £14.5 million" player, rather than a "return to sender" player, and hopefully let the team know that there are loads of us out there. They need to know that we are behind them, and not just to make it easier to get on their backs! Blind loyalty? No. COYB!

Now my opinion. I've watched him play live maybe 5 times but mostly on TV and he can be so frustrating with his lazy "couldn't give a damn" attitude sometimes. Maybe his reaction to Martinez but I think he does have a poor attitude to working hard... but then lots of talented players do. Compare him to Geri. Bags of skill and pace, 22 but to me there is often no end product. He should have lots more goals and assists but he doesn't deliver.

If you look at the strikers in the Premier League and their stats we have one of the top 3 or 4 which, for a club outside the top 6, not in London, is quite an achievement. You saw recently how hard it us to bring top players here, yet lots of you are saying let the greedy get go. Look back at our strikers and their stats over the last 20 years. Rom is the best we've had probably since Cottee.

20+ men are very very had to come by and suggesting that we get shut just cos he has a desire to be the very best is just preposterous.

Yes, you are entitled to your opinions, of course you are. But please try base them on facts. And these are that he's the most prolific striker we have had in blue for many, many a season and replacing him will be a massive struggle.

Saying that, we really need him to fire this season!!

Good news is we have got 7 points and the international break.

He was late back in because of the Euros, he then had a catch up week on fitness then played and got a cut ankle that kept him out for a week to 10 days. He only put his foot back on the Training pitch the Thursday before the WBA game - he came on early and made a difference.

Koeman will get Rom fit and firing again soon... we have a few days extra training as we play on the Monday. Get through that game and we will have a fully fit Rom and a pacey pressing front 5 for the rest of September and October – we are building good momentum and, if Rom does what he has done in the last three years and scores 20+, we will have a great season.

COYBs!!!

For him to become the player he thinks he is, he needs to learn to be a better technical player.

Can't see it happening, but I'll take his goals any day of the week.

He's still a mouthy twat though.

But when it is Lukaku, or Barkley, then they can do no right. Lukaku was decisive in our excellent start to the season in that without him we'd have lost vs West Brom.

In our victory at Stoke he ran, tried too hard to score but again, without him that Stoke back line would have been ever so comfortable and life for Mirallas and co would have been much harder.

We are 4th, with 7 points, and our best player is yet to hit his best form. This should be a reason to be excited, the team is still improving and learning. With Lukaku and Barkley, we can still step it up another level.

Lukaku to get 25+ this season, Barkley 10-15 and Champions League here we come (and some will still probably call them shite)

And Paul Setter, are you saying you'd prefer Victor Anichebe to Lukaku. My oh my.

The two things that irk me the most are his attitude towards the club and his work rate off the ball. Regarding the former, I can understand that ambitious players become restless and disillusioned, under a manager like Martinez, with 2 poor seasons in a row and the club seemingly going nowhere. Perhaps Mr Koeman and his team can get Romelu to peak fitness and increase his contribution. Perhaps they can get him to play a bigger part in a game, particularly when we've lost the ball.

I have no doubt that, given good service, which our current team can provide in abundance, Romelu can and will start scoring again. Individual and team performance is so much related to confidence.

At the end of the day we don't want to cut our nose off to spite our face. Many good players come with baggage. On the balance of things, I think we should try to keep Lukaku, and add to his firepower with another quality striker in the next transfer window.

After all, if you get rid of him who are you going to replace him with? Currently we have all our eggs in one basket and that's not a good place to be. I also believe that other players should be weighing in with more goals, more often.

Rom and all professional footballers have to give interviews – they are asked the obvious questions – right now it is he is not scoring and getting back to fitness. He is not mouthing off! He is not moaning and he is not sulking. "Someone said Constantly moaning etc etc" get real.

His agent is typically motivated to get deals and moves – his dad is a loose cannon – and since Moshiri has told them to shut up at the start of the Euros, there has been nothing – despite journos always always looking for an angle.

He has put a god shift in every time I have seen him this pre-season and the first games he has played.

Get behind our centre-forward – he just may deliver an amazing season to attract more players next Summer.

I can only hope that someone tells him to stop spouting all this 'I'll give it one more season' nonsense though, because it does grate. But he will have my full support whenever he plays, because he is potentially a top, top player.

Having said that, I think it's important to hear everyone's views, as I'm often wrong and others are right. (At the end of the day we all basically want the same thing!).

I would say however, that I wish fans, when contributing their views, their exasperations and what they think should be happening, could make the same points, but with a bit more calmness and respect. I know that players often fail to show respect themselves, and we all rightly feel very strongly about the issues discussed on these forums. But two wrongs don't make a right.

Despite not scoring, he has made a positive difference in both games. Give him the service and play Rom in the right way and he will deliver. And focus on what he does on the pitch rather than what he says off it.

To be 3 games into the season and have any player who's not firing on all cylinders is a disgrace.

If we have a great season, and unexpectedly get into the Champions League, then we will have partly given him what he desires. If he still then engineers a move away, then I will have egg on my face, but I will get over it. Until then, please combine his statistical facts with your own love of Everton, don't expect love in return, and it becomes easy to get behind him in the hope that he bangs in the goals again.

He's 'handed in' a year's notice. Get real - it's a job. Loyal guys like Hibbo, Giggs and, yes, Terry and Gerard are gone and we won't see their likes again. While they wear the shirt, Koeman will get the best out of them, so again I ask everyone to get behind the lads, all of them, and be remembered in this piece of history as part of the next wave of success.

Get the finger out, lad, and start working on your ball control. Good player but not great yet. If he gets in tune with the suppliers he will score more. He needs to get consistency in his game. Even if he's not scoring, he should be bursting his balls for his team mates.

This is Everton FC... not Rom FC.

If you look at my later (#56) post (before I read your #50), I have tried to contextualise a professional footballer's situation, because too much criticism is set against the assumption that they should die for the cause and never covet anything better, and I do understand that this cuts to the bone for most supporters, myself included.

I agree with some of the criticisms but I think that, now that the TDD is over, we should just reign it in a bit, and make our comments based on 'marks out of 10 for each game played' and forget the wider issues. Thanks again.

His barren run will soon end and I am very confident he will score a load this season as he is a natural goalscorer. I have days when I know I am not working at my best and so do footballers. A relationship turning sour, family illness, feeling a bit under the weather – all things which we mere mortals go through... and footballers are no different; their riches do not protect them from everyday problems but we never become aware of this because it is their private life.

Who knows what might have affected his game this year? But I know one thing – if we get behind him and the team, they will perform much better than if we constantly slag them off. Yes, we have the right to be critical but we have the ability to inspire the players and, if that can help win us a few extra points, then that's what I will continue to do.

I was entirely agreeing with you mate. My comments were referring to others. Sorry if I didn't make that clear. Doh!

First sentence - in complete agreement.

Second sentence: "Just fans"? For me they/we are the most important part of the club, mate. I know what you were trying to say. But it came across a tad – dare I say it – "negative"? Glass houses Martin.

Koeman did hint that players in general lacked fitness. Let's give it time. Still 4th with Lukaku unfit. Let's wait till fully fit before passing judgement.

Honestly, any sort of criticism of a player or member of staff on here is seen as an act of treason or treachery, when all is said and done it is just people giving their views on a time-consuming pastime. There are far more important things in life to get angry about; the last time I looked we live in a democracy and not in a dictatorship. Pull your finger out, Lukaku, and get back on the goal trail as soon as possible.

We rely too heavily on Lukaku, but those knockers on here will soon be rueing his absence if he gets injured.

I still think he will come good sooner rather than later, and as others have stated – he gives defences something to think about, and helps to take the attention away from our other goal threats.

Let's remember also that he is only 23, and many players that age are inconsistent. He is still learning his trade and will improve, and despite his flaws, we need to indulge him and his ego for the goals that he will bring.

He is using us and we are using him. He and many others are not "Evertonians", and we all need to appreciate the fact that he is just another mercenary, picking up as much dosh as he can, in a career that is over very quickly.

We will only attract players of his calibre if we get into the top 4, so replacing him with someone like Giroud, Vardy, or Kane is out of our grasp. So let's get behind him and see if he can make us all believe in him.

We need to be looking out for a replacement for sure as we are short still despite Valencia coming in. Especially since we will be losing Kone and Niasse to the Para-Olympics soon.

He's still with us, so we need to back him so he can get back to pre-2016 form. Just 2 league goals in 2016 doesn't make great reading but it is still early and luckily the team has so far shown goals can come from other sources.

We've got a relatively 'easy' September so we have a massive chance to cement the good start so far. Remember Leicester started well and never looked back. Winning breeds confidence and confidence breeds winning etc.

Baby steps and all that.

It was just the scattergun way they went about Wednesday. I really am not arsed that we didn't pay for any of Sissoko, Brahimi, Lopez or Gabbiadini. To me, they were just not value for those type of prices quoted. However, you still can't shake the feeling that nothing much has changed and until some solid decisions are made re the stadium and we do put a proper transfer strategy in place, then I'm afraid natural cynicism and pessimism will always remain. On this forum anyway!

As for Lukaku, I agree that his goals ratio cannot be argued with, but I also believe that the top strikers don't go missing at the business end of the season which is what Lukaku did and arguably cost us the chance of breaking our trophy drought because his performance at Wembley was awful.

However he is unquestionably an asset and if he can get his head right and Koeman's faith in our signings is repaid, then I feel we can have a good go. We have undoubtedly got talent, strength and pace in our squad and if channelled right I reckon we can surprise a few people.

I wasn't saying that Wednesday night though!!

In 55 years of supporting, I've learned that the best way is to give a bollocking when someone is just not trying their best, but to be supportive when they are trying but their form is off. I would have thought all the bollocking of Lukaku was done to death by now, if he hasn't got the message, Koeman will soon deal with the situation.

So what I'm gonna do, being selfish, is to support the guy, cheer him on at matches, because I know that when Goodison roars in support, it inspires players. As I say, it's selfish, but also (I believe) coldly rational. At this stage, any other approach is less likely to achieve the desired result.

I guess Lukaku likes to put himself in the spotlight by bigging himself up to epic proportions but Martinez didn't give him the platform to show his talents on a regular basis given the pedestrian tactics we used. That isn't to ignore the arm-waving, sulking laziness we witnessed on a regular basis, but again, a lot of the players showed the same level of ineptness.

Koeman has the team now, he actually knows what he is doing and will not tolerate the players gesticulating. I am quite excited to see how Lukaku will do under Koeman now, so let's all have a bit of perspective and start judging Lukaku and in fact all the rest of team on how we do under a proper coach and not get tangled up with how they performed under the idiot Martinez.

And as for the post that insinuated that they would rather have Niasse than Lukaku because he runs around during the game a bit more ... ffs – there really is no helping some people!

by Burt Bacharach

Talk is cheap, hit the back of the net on a regular basis.

My opinion about Lukaku fluctuates wildly – a bit like his displays.

He can do the stunning finish like he did against The Arse at home, cutting in from the right wing and banging it in and we are all raving about him. Then misses the ball from a yard out, like Norwich away, and we are all ranting at him (maybe not all of us).

There are times when he uses his strength properly and you can't knock him off the ball. Then next minute he looks like a new born deer and falls over his own feet.

He quite rightly talks about ambition and winning silverware and then backs it up with a display against Man Utd that a Sunday league hoofer would be embarrassed about.

I will agree wholeheartedly that his scoring record is fantastic and we need to back him not attack him when he is on the pitch. I also believe he will be banging them in this season as it appears no-one put a bid in for him. He will be out to prove many people wrong.

He's with us for another season so I hope that under Koeman's tutelage and fitness regime, he will become a better all-round striker and score lots of goals again.

I'll give him the stick he deserves though if he plays the same lazy style as last season. I cant see Ron letting him get away with that though.

I'm not convinced he'll do well but our success depends upon it. (Niasse!!!)

I will say that, yes, it's completely unreasonable to expect him to be 100% fit before the start of the season. It just doesn't work that way. They build up to peak condition – this isn't your local 5 a side where you're in the same (relatively shit) condition all year round.

His run in the Euros and subsequent injury will have put him back a few weeks. So I've no issue with what he says. He's correct, with the usual bit of self-confidence thrown in.

Constructive criticism is more than fair but some of the stuff aimed at the likes of Lukaku, Barkley and now even Moshiri stretches the limit from people, many of whom are totally unqualified to make the criticisms.

I've spent the last year on here being told that Martinez has 'ruined' the squad. Now that he's gone, why not give the players a chance under a sterner coach who is already organising the team?

I hope you were including goals in five-a-side games with that bet. He averages 14 league goals a season, he's got 35 games to better that.

I'd be pleasantly surprised if he does.

Are we still in the 19th century? 'Upstairs, Downstairs' is thankfully a thing of the past, to most of us at least..

Amazing what a few hours taking my better half to Costco and Dunelm can do to a forum! You never know, maybe England can widen the smile? It's OK, I put my Kevlar and crash helmet on ready for the replies!

I hope you're pleasantly surprised because I'll feel even better!

I think I'm getting to the point where I'm so used to seeing the same old turgid, tedious, repetitive, negative and ridiculous comments about him that if I didn't see any more I'd get Lukaku criticism withdrawal symptoms. But how welcome that would be.

It's simply boring now. Let's just see how the guy does on the pitch, eh?

I just saw his interview on the telly and we'd better have a good season or he will definitely be off next summer.

I don't think fitness is the problem. It's all in his head. I think he's got a classic case of the yips. He talks confidently, but he's going through a dry spell that he's never experienced before.

When the first one goes in, a lot more will follow... I hope.

I read what other Blues post here because I'm interested in what they have to say, particularly, if they don't agree with me because I'm not crass enough to think I'm always right. In fact, the stronger I feel about a point, the more likely I am to be wrong, from bitter experience!! If we were agreeing all the time, it wouldn't half be a boring world, mate.

We all, on here, more or less, want and think the same things. We just interpret situations differently and our solutions are different. Also, our expectations are different. That's the really interesting bit. That's why I like hearing everyone's views, including yours Martin.

We want him to play as part of a team and chase back. We want him to enjoy the game and be confident in his own ability. We want him to put the past few months behind him and start thinking about Europe and a decent cup run.

COYB!!

Gary Lineker was a devastating striker but the ultimate Gorgeous Gus from the Rovers. If he had a good chance of scoring, he'd pounce... but not if it made him sweat; no headers because it'd spoil his hair. Track back? Be serious, that's hard work.

Rom is a workhorse compared to him. All Rom needs to do is get back to scoring, his work rate, tracking back, first touch, etc, will all become irrelevant.

The lad is not fit – he is weeks behind everyone else; let's judge him after half a season.

And if any of the haters on here want a wager that he won't score more than 2 goals in the next 6 months, put your money where your mouth is!

Romelu will come good. You know it and I know it. Whether I get my new bike helmet out of it depends if it's at Sunderland or not.

I hope you get more than a "new bike helmet" out of it.

Mind it could be he scores a bagful of goals, we finish in the top 6 and he stays, although if he does score a bagful the smart money would say he would leave,

Signed, Romelu Lukaku.

But on the fitness, there are loads of lads who were behind having returned from the Euros, Ashley Williams at our place for one. He's then had a slight injury which has thrown a small spanner in the works. Putting it bluntly he's also a big fucker and it sometimes takes him a while to get up to speed. No big deal.

What's the 'contract' he signed? 5 years was it? £70,000 a week, so Everton have no rights then, not even expecting him to be fit and to keep himself fit to earn the money he's paid?

Come on, Colin, you're an Evertonian, not an agent. Lukaku doesn't give a toss about Everton or the fans, why are you defending him?

It will be exactly the same situation next summer, irrespective of where Everton finish, with his future being entirely dependant on whether one of the big clubs on his 'me and my dad would love a bit of that' list decides to lump down the sort of sum Everton would be willing to let him go for.

Funny really. If Rom had turned round in a bucket seat stroking a white cat like the archetypal Bond villain, he probably would have been loved more!

Because we need another striker.

At the same time, if a player isn't happy he has a right to change his employer. It's how the system works.

If? He practices doing it every night in the privacy of his own home, except he swaps out Mr Bond for "Signor Conte" after he say's "I've been expecting you".

I think They will have told Romelu that the "project" was over a period of time, not one transfer window, with ongoing improvement.
That significant money was available, which it has been.
That Everton had a major shareholder with significant funds, which we have.
That Everton had an exciting, well respected manager, which we have.
That players would be brought in to make an immediate impact (a little too early yet but signs are good).
That performances and league position would improve, (so far so good).
That a new stadium would be forthcoming (time will tell, but I believe it).
And that we will attract top talent and be able to compete with the best (which I also believe, because I've witnessed it before).

Romelu is not stupid. He knows that this will take time. He knows that even the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal, and Man Utd don't always get the players they want and can make errors of judgement and mistakes in transfer windows. After all, Chelsea sold him...

I think at the moment, Romelu's thoughts will be about his own performances and not that of the club surrounding him.

If, come the January transfer window, we are occupying a European berth, then attracting top players should be a bit easier. And whether Romelu performs, or ultimately stays or goes, may be less important than it is now. I for one hope he stays, does well, and shares in Everton's success. Essentially, I believe in him, and I believe in Moshiri and Koeman.

No, on second thoughts he wouldn't make a good Blofeld. He would have trouble 'trapping' Bond in the first place, never mind 'controlling' the world, and the poor girl might be frustrated as Rom often dribbles before he shoots!

As well as football, I do a bit of fishing. I don't go out in the morning thinking I'm not going to catch. I hope I'm going to have a good day. It's what makes it worth looking forward to.

I respect the opinions of others. But If I start the season off thinking we're rubbish, the owners are rubbish, the stadium's not going to happen, Romelu is leaving... what is there to look forward to? Might as well go fishing.

It would be nice if he kept his mouth shut when on international duty, but he's a good player, and I'm sure that if we had the money for better we would have spent it.

Scoring goals is the hardest thing to do in football. Lukaku has proven from a very early age he is a top class goal-scorer. Such weaknesses as there are in his game will be ironed out in the next couple of years before he reaches his peak years.

I just hope we can acquire players of equal calibre elsewhere in the team so that he can see he is playing at a successful club, one competing near the top of the table and for silverware.

Everton is a PROFESSIONAL football club, it set a fee for Rom which no one was apparently prepared to meet.

Lukaku has had to accept that, based on his performances and Everton's performance as a team last season, that he cannot get a better contract and will have to try to attract a better contract from another club, or Everton, this year.

As for my feeling on strikers in general, and Lukaku's goal return (and indeed goal drought if you want to call it that), I judge them on opportunities, not goals. Things beyond anyone's control happen after the ball has left the boot. Lukaku could have had a few this season if things had gone differently in front of him and this would be a different thread.

Don't get emotional about Romelu Lukaku. He doesn't get emotional about us. He can improve but operates season by season as PROFESSIONAL modern day footballers do – he should be well motivated to perform this season but not by the fans support or vitriol because in modern day football the fans are frankly irrelevant except as 'atmospheric extras' for the TV experience.

Starting the season unfit two seasons out of three is a joke, the World Cup year of 2014 and the Euros 2016 is something he will have to learn to put right as big clubs simply will not put up with it.

I think the current bunch of signings will do absolutely nothing to convince Rom to stay.

Yeah let's have this superstar in our team... after all, 2 league goals in 2016 and £70 grand a week and a complete no show in the cup semi-final is well worth the money. Bravo.

It's easy, Rom, just say "no comment".

I personally think that Koeman had a plan to replace him and that our transfer window strategy went tits up when there were no offers for him. We had a problem finding a striker to play second fiddle to Lukaku. Someone who would be happy to be our 2nd striker in the knowledge that we would only play one. It may well be that we had someone lined up for big money dependant on Lukaku being sold.

I just don't see him as a Koeman type of striker.

He's a £50m striker all day long, he's one of only 10-15 strikers in that bracket, and he's the only one who would even consider season 2016-17 at us.

We sometimes have to eat shit off these egoistic players, as the Red Shite had too from Suarez. Like them, we will be worse off without Rom, as they were without Suarez.

Let's get behind him and see how far he can push us.

I believe Rom has massive potential for the future and would be irked to see that evolving as soon as he is away from us. If he can develop with us but we find ourselves eventually unable to retain him, there would be some comfort, but if he was to depart from us as some sort of cast-off or pariah because of a temporary period in the doldrums, and then come good elsewhere, there would be many bleeding hearts on here saying what a bunch of knobs our management have been for letting him go.

For sure, 2016 so far has been a far from memorable year but, with Martinez, Euros, injuries and a drop-off in form, hardly damning. To retain him this season and provide him with the opportunity to get back on track with an exponentially better training regime is pretty canny in my view.

I for one, am delighted he remains with us but would say to him: "You've been given the chance, Rom. Grasp it, use it and show us what you're made of mentally and physically, or accept your limitations." If he can't cut it under this regime, I think he never will in the Premier League.

I think we may see a good side to Rom show this season.

John Rafferty thinks that any weaknesses in his game will be ironed out over the next two years; you might be right, John, but he has been here three seasons now and I have not seen any real improvement in his basic play. Maybe Koeman will make the difference... I certainly hope so.

Nobody expects them to score bagfuls of goals these days given the ''park the bus'' attitude of almost all the teams in the Premier League but one goal is often enough to get the result.

He's an undoubted talent, it's just that he knows it and has a bit of an attitude. Who knows with him really.

Everyone goes through a dry spell, when he is at his best, he is a monster. Hopefully with the new manager & renewed confidence he will get back to his best.

The fans will love him again, he will feel the love and want to stay and run his heart out for the club.

Everybody is happy. :)

I am so gratified.

He views us as nothing more than a stepping stone and everytime he's on an international break he harps on about moving to another club. The window has only just closed and he's already talking about when he leaves.

He's a total prick.

However, prior to that with both us and West Brom he has had a great strike rate (1 in every 2) and I think kept us out of a relegation dogfight last season.

So I expect him to start banging them in again soon (hopefully against Sunderland) even if it's self-serving to a significant extent.

The only positive thing that could come out of those international training sessions for both Rom and Kev is the fact that Thiery Henry can coach them a thing or two?

My personal take on him will be to support him until he leaves, in the same way that I continued to support Stones last season even though I knew he wanted to leave us and that he didn't care for the club that employed him.

IMO, on his day he is a handful and this season he is capable of 30 goals. So I'll be supporting him whether he kisses the badge or not BUT be assured, he'll only be banging them in for is own sake and not for you or I. If we get into the Champions League, he might just decide to stay, so let's get behind the gobshite.