"?Everton are set to offer Romelu Lukaku a bumper new contract worth £7m per year in a bid to keep him at the club and out of the reach of Chelsea, with the star Belgian striker rumoured to be keen on rejoining his former team.
It has long been suggested that Lukaku feels he has unfinished business at Stamford Bridge after the way his first spell at the club ended in 2014.
However, according to the Daily Mirror, Everton are desperate not to lose the 23-year-old powerhouse and will offer wages of £135,000-per-week to have him commit his long-term future to the Toffees instead.
That equates to an annual salary of marginally over £7m, which would be worth a total of £28m or as much as £35m over the course of a four or five-year contract.
It has recently been reported that Chelsea have had a £57m bid rejected already, with Everton said to demanding £75m - a fee almost three times what Everton initially paid two years ago, and one that would put Lukaku among the most expensive players of all time.
The Toffees are tasked with demonstrating to Lukaku, whose agent Mino Raiola has been busy dealing with Manchester United all summer on business for his other high clients, that they can match his ambitions.
The former teen prodigy has been vocal about his desire to play in the Champions League.
And while Chelsea cannot immediately offer that after a dismal 10th place finish last season, there is genuine belief that new manager Antonio Conte will have the club firing on all cylinders again soon enough.
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