Ronald Koeman’s Everton side have gone from strength to strength this season but they do still face some fairly serious problems ahead.
On Saturday Everton dominated West Brom at Goodison Park as they cruised to a 3-0 victory. This means the Toffees, currently in 7th place move within two points of Manchester United. Although United have two games in hand Everton could soon be challenging for European soccer if the can continue their run of form.
At the moment the only thing that could stop Everton from reaching the European qualification places is the uncertainty around the future of star striker Romelu Lukaku. Currently joint top scorer in the league with 19 goals, Lukaku is worrying fans after seemingly being a little reluctant to sign a new contract. However, it is believed that the Belgian international has agreed on a new five-year contract with Everton and that all is left to do is for the player to sign the deal. But until pen is put to paper I’m sure many fans will be very nervous of losing their man. Although I believe that it’s very rare that a player is bigger than their club, it could be debated that if Lukaku wished he could further his career by seeking a move to a larger club. After all, any striker that is scoring as many goals as he is in the Premier League has the ability to cut it at most of the world’s top teams. In many ways, it could be seen that this contract also to ensure that if Lukaku does eventually decide to leave it’s likely that Everton would receive a sizeable transfer sum and so minimize the damage that him leaving the side would cause.
Lukaku helped his current employers to a comfortable victory over West Brom on Saturday as Everton comfortably brushed their opponents aside by 3 goals to nil. West Brom managed to hold their ground for most of the first half however it was in the 39th minute when Everton made their breakthrough via Kevin Mirallas who finished an easy opportunity after Ben Foster has parried Ross Barkley’s shot. Only 6 minutes later new signing Morgan Schneiderlin made his mark in the game as he was able to knock the ball past Foster following a very nice bit of footwork and pass from man of the moment, Lukaku. It was then the Belgian who wrapped the game up for the Toffees as he latched onto a Ross Barkley cross to nod home for 3 and his 19th Premier League goal of the season.
Everton have Europe in their sights for this season and with 10 games remaining they’ve got a great chance to top off a good season with European qualification. But regardless of where they finish come the end of the season they must hold onto everything they have now. Ronald Koeman appears to be creating a very specific team that he wants but this could all be disrupted if key players leave the Toffees. Lukaku is a concern until is contract is finally signed and recently there’s been some rumours suggesting that Tottenham are interested in Ross Barkley. Who although has been very inconsistent in recent times has the potential to be a very key player for Everton. On top of this there’s rumours of Koeman himself being linked with the soon to be vacant Barcelona position.
There are lots of reasons to be positive and hopeful as an Everton fan but the club needs to ensure that they remain on track to keep moving in the right direction.
