In an exclusive interview with the Liverpool Echo, Everton striker Romelu Lukaku spoke of the team’s desire to get into the Champions League, if not this season then the next.
The Belgian reached 20 goals for this season against Stoke on Saturday and is only the second player in the club’s history to reach twenty in successive seasons, Graeme Sharp the only player prior to Rom.
Speaking on the team’s aspirations, the forward made it clear that his, and the teams, aspirations lie in the Champions League. He said:
If you look forward and down the line, then Champions League is the objective of the club with us. You have Geri, myself, Ross, Stonesy. We are the four but you have to deliver more wins, get that nastiness inside of us but you don’t get that straight away, but with age.
The Champions League is the objective for all of us.
So if you talk about next season then you can say that those boys are ready.
The Belgian was also asked about John Stones and the youngster having to sit on the bench in recent weeks while in form Ramiro Funes Mori and skipper Phil Jagielka have been the preferred pairing in central defence. He explained:
He is going through a period now because he knows Funes Mori is knocking on the door and Jags is doing great.
That is when you know it is a mental aspect now that has to come up. It is easier to put a 21-year-old out of the team than a 32-year-old so you need to keep working and keep progressing. Ross gets it as well now and Stonesy is going through a period that he has never had in his career.
As well as the strikers aspirations for Champions League football, Romelu has also expressed his desire to win silverware this season, with Everton’s only hope of glory in the FA Cup. The Toffees face Bournemouth in the fifth round of the competition and will be hoping to put their disappointing collapse at the Vitality last time out behind them. He said:
In the Cup we have to go all out, 100%. I am pinning a lot of my hopes on the FA Cup. I want to win something.
The Man City game (Capital One Cup semi-final) was a game where we missed an opportunity but we have another opportunity, even though we still have a lot of games still to make it through, but in the FA Cup we have to be clinical.
Romelu also previewed this weekend’s fixture against West Brom, whom the Belgian had previously had a loan spell with. Lukaku described the game as ‘cheeky’ and sees the Baggies as a test for the Blues. He explained:
Those cheeky games, like West Brom this weekend, that can be a cheeky game. They will come, sit back, sit in and wait.
If you don’t find a way to break them down then the manager is going to do something to go a bit more offensive but then that is when they can score a goal. That is where those teams have the edge.
