Everton are close to signing Belgian World Cup striker Romelu Lukaku from Chelsea for a club-record £23.7m.

Lukaku, 21, scored 16 goals on loan at Everton last
season as the club finished fifth and qualified for Europe for the first
time in five years.

Everton have called a news conference for 19:00 BST on Wednesday, at which they are expected to confirm the deal.

Lukaku, who joined Chelsea from Anderlecht for £18m in August 2011, tweeted: "Time to write a new chapter."

He spent the 2012-13 season on loan at West Brom and played only 15 times in all competitions for Chelsea.

Lukaku scored 17 goals in 38 games for the Baggies, as
the West Midlands club recorded their highest ever Premier League finish
of eighth.

Then last season, his performances for Everton earned
Lukaku a place in Marc Wilmots's Belgium squad for the 2014 World Cup.

He made four appearances in Brazil, scoring one goal,
as Belgium exited in the quarter-finals following a 1-0 loss to
Argentina.

However, the frontman does not fit into the plans of
Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who has signed two strikers, and let two
go, this summer before Lukaku's move.

Diego Costa, 25, moved for £32m

from Atletico Madrid and

club legend Didier Drogba,

36, rejoined on a free transfer. Samuel Eto'o was released and Demba Ba was sold to Besiktas for £4.7m.

Lukaku's departure means striker Fernando Torres, 30, is likely to stay at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea believe the fee agreed with Everton for Lukaku
puts them in a strong position to comply with Uefa's Financial Fair Play
rules.

Ironic how Lukaku who was supposed to replace Drogba, got replaced by Drogba, and how we signed Torres to replace Drogba and now Drogba came to replace Torres. The Legend is irreplaceable! :)

Anyways, I'm happy we sold him, a player who is not willing to compete for a place in his dream team is not worth playing him after all.

Costa will score at least 20 goals and make 10 assists this season.

1+ Emercan! :)

Finally:)

We gave him a chance last season, but he was too scared to compete. At the raw age of 20, he thought he should be an immediate starter. Obviously, Mourinho does not play like that. Almost every manager hates that.

He was too fu.cking afraid to compete with Eto'o (36 y/o), TORRES, and Ba. Instead, he opted to go jump in a little pond. Nice attitude. Go learn how to be a professional from Schurrle and Azpi. Those guys NEVER give up.

And you know what? I bet he won't make it at a top club. Ever. He doesn't have the right attitude and he has sh.it technical skills.

The Mata transfer hurt. The Luiz transfer hurt. But Lukaku? Good riddance. I'm glad we somehow got over 25 million pounds on him.

You wanted to play in Europe? Enjoy the Europa League.

David Luiz + Lukaku= £78M

Diego Costa + Filipe Luis +Cesc Fabregas + Didier Drogba= £75M

In the end, Chelsea wins.

Mourinho about Lukaku:

“The thinking was, first of all, the fact that Romelu was always very clear with us that in his mentality and his approach he was not highly motivated to come to a competitive situation at Chelsea.“

"He wanted to play for Chelsea but clearly only as the first choice striker - and at a club of our dimension it’s very difficult to promise a player that status."

“That reduced, immediately, his desire to come to us. After that Everton came with an important offer and because we want to be inside the Financial Fair Play rules, you have to analyse these situations.”

@lodatz

I know stats may not tell the full story . However, in last total last two seasons combined only Van Persie and Suarez outscored him and not by big margin . So, considering that he will bang at least 15 goals a season so transfer fee is reasonable .

Never forget..