Everton are close to agreeing terms with Romelu Lukaku on a new, bumper contract according to reports. The Belgian forward has two more years to run on his initial contract which he signed in 2014 following his loan spell at Goodison Park.

The Blues have reportedly had the improved deal on the table since December as they look to tie down one of their core players for at least 12 more months.

The 23-year-old forward currently earns around £75,000 a week at Goodison Park, making him the Blues' second biggest earner on the pitch behind Morgan Schneiderlin and he could be set to double his current wage with a new deal.

Lukaku is consistently linked with moves away from Everton but leaves the business talk to his agent, Mino Raiola. Raiola, who has orchestrated some of the biggest transfers in football, made it clear that he wouldn’t have allowed Lukaku to join at the time he did, if he was his agent.

Since then, there has been a change in tone from the Italian super agent. During the summer, he noted that “something had changed at Everton” and was willing to talk about Lukaku possibly staying.

Raiola is said to have a good relationship with Everton's majority shareholder Farhad Moshiri which can only work in the Blues favour during negotiations.

Lukaku is currently in red-hot form

The Belgian forward currently sits atop of the Premier League goalscorers chart with 16 and is fresh off a four-goal performance against AFC Bournemouth.

At the age of 23, Lukaku still has improvements to make in his development but in front of goal, there aren’t many more clinical than he is. At this point in this season, Lukaku has a shot accuracy percentage of 64%, good for fourth best in the Squawka rankings for Forwards with at least 15 appearances.

Ronald Koeman has labelled Lukaku as "world class" in regards to his finishing and wants the contract issue sorted as soon as possible.

Everton have been searching for years for a striker who can regularly provide 15 plus goals a season. In Lukaku, they have their man and they’d be foolish to allow him to leave.

Everton also have other players to tie down

The Blues have a number of other key players that are set for contract extensions. Ross Barkley is right at the top of that list with his deal expiring in 2018. He is one of a few that is set to be handed an improved contract at Goodison Park.

Koeman challenged Barkley earlier in the season to improve his all-around game and he’s done that. Now Everton have to hold up their end of the bargain by rewarding the midfielder with a new deal.

Leighton Baines, Seamus Coleman, Kevin Mirallas and Joel Robles all have their deals coming to an end within the next two years too.

Everton also face a decision on captain Phil Jagielka. His current contract also expires in 2018 and with his role in the team becoming limited by the week, he could find himself on his way out of Goodison Park.

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About the author
Connor Bennett
Everton editor for VAVEL UK - contributing since 2015. Premier League accredited journalist. Journalism graduate from Liverpool. Writing about Football, eSports and the NFL. Email: [email protected] | Twitter: ConnorBennett14