Ronald Koeman keen for Romelu Lukaku to finally sign new Everton deal
Sunday 12 March 2017 11:28, UK
Romelu Lukaku's importance to Everton was underlined by his 19th Premier League goal this season on Saturday and Ronald Koeman quipped he might have to sign his prospective new deal himself.
The 23-year-old drew level with Harry Kane in the race for the top-flight's golden boot having headed in the third goal in Everton's 3-0 success over West Brom at Goodison Park.
With 10 games still remaining, Lukaku has already claimed his best Premier League tally and such a feat will make supporters even keener to see the Belgian sign the contract that has been on the table since December.
"It's still close to being signed - maybe I need to sign that contract then we can finish with all the stories," Koeman said.
"What we like is that strikers find the best position at the time in the game and normally that is around the box.
"But sometimes if you drop to the left or right that makes space for other players and that was the message before the game: we need running players."
That was exactly what Lukaku did in the build up to his team's first two goals as Everton's dangerman pulled out to the right before feeding passes inside during moves that led to Kevin Mirallas and then Morgan Schneiderlin scoring.
A fifth straight home win was achieved in comfortable fashion, although it came without James McCarthy's involvement after the midfielder's latest hamstring problem.
McCarthy's issues have restricted him to only seven Premier League starts this term and Koeman is keen to get to the bottom of it.
"We need to deal with his fitness," he added. "He played 30-35 minutes last week and then we need to put him in the recovery group after the game.
"That's what we need to learn; I'm not a doctor but what I'd like is the best for him. That's difficult. It's another step back for the boy and that's really disappointing. We need to find a solution."
The 26-year-old's fitness was a bone of contention when he was selected for the Republic of Ireland earlier in the campaign and his country's latest squad is announced on Monday.
Asked if he expects Martin O'Neill to pick him again, Koeman said: "I don't know. We know it will be another nine, 10 days [before the game] and the FIFA rule is that they have the possibility to call the player.
"If they call the player the player will go and they will see how his fitness is at that time."
