Andy Hunter

Ronald Koeman has sought to clarify his comments about Romelu Lukaku’s future by insisting it is Everton’s responsibility to improve and convince the striker he can challenge for silverware at Goodison Park.

Koeman was criticised during the international break, mainly by his own supporters, for suggesting Lukaku would not have fulfilled his potential if he finishes his career at the club. Koeman was quoted in the Belgian newspaper HLN as saying: “His potential is greater and higher than Everton as a final destination. If Romelu was to play at Everton until the end of his career I know he has left something behind.”

However, Koeman claimed on Thursday that he was talking in terms of Everton’s current Premier League status, and not where he expects the club to be in the coming years under his management and with the investment from their major shareholder Farhad Moshiri.

He said: “It is not to defend myself but you take the headline out of context. Of course what we like to show Romelu is that Everton will grow, we will be bigger and we will fight for titles. If you look now at Everton, and if Everton stays at this level, then of course it is not good that he finishes his career at Everton because he is one of the best strikers and he is still only 23.

“If he stays for more years that is not bad for his career, he is improving and learning and he is one of the better strikers that we have in the Premier League and in Europe. Of course there is a lot of interest in the player and finally the player needs to make a decision and a club needs to make a decision to accept – yes or no – but what I tried to do is keep Romelu for as long as possible at the club.”

The Everton manager said before the international break that there was no prospect of Lukaku leaving in January and he believes the club must demonstrate to the Belgium striker this season that progress is being made.

“The problem in the summer is the problem for the summer and of course we need to prepare for Romelu’s position and other positions,” Koeman said. “That is our job and what we need to do. He took the decision to stay because he had a good feeling with what was happening from the start of this season.

“If we show the team, the management, the club and the board are growing and we invest and we are improving and playing for Europe that is the first step for the ambition of players.”