Romelu Lukaku reportedly tells Everton he will not sign a new contract with the club

Despite reports in recent weeks claiming that Romelu Lukaku was close to a new Everton contract, it's now emerged that the Belgian has no intentions of inking any new deal with the club.

The striker told a Belgian website following the 3-0 victory over West Brom at the weekend that he wasn't thinking about renewing his contract at Goodison Park. Now, according to a report in the Liverpool Echo, it seems Lukaku has indicated that he intends to leave the club in order to pursue his ambitions of playing Champions League football in the near future. https://twitter.com/_pauljoyce/status/841695439061676032 Lukaku is currently the joint leading scorer in the Premier League this season, and it was believed that the Everton board hoped to finalise a new contract for the striker by the end of this week. His agent, Mino Raiola, even went as far as saying that he was "99.9999 %" certain that his client would sign on the dotted line. After further reports suggested that Lukaku's deal was being held up over a disagreement over buyout clauses, it seems talk of a new contract has been scrapped entirely. With his future now seemingly lying away from Merseyside, it remains to be seen if Ronald Koeman will stick with the in-form forward for Everton's home game against Hull this weekend. Catch up with this week's episode of 888sport Football Friday Live