Romelu Lukaku says he has “choices to make” upon return from World Cup

Ever since Jose Mourinho sent Romelu Lukaku on loan to Everton despite a serious lack of firepower at the striker position, it’s never truly seemed like the Belgian’s heart has been in returning to Chelsea.

From the get-go, both parties have never seemed committed to the other, with Lukaku seeming jaded throughout his year at Goodison Park.

There have been flashes of reconciliation, but most of the last year has pointed towards an eventual exit.

With Belgium eliminated from the World Cup via a 1-0 loss to Argentina, the 21-year-old was more tactful with his approach, but came closer to saying he’s on his way out than he’d like to stay.

“I want to go on holiday first and rest with my parents and then we will see,” Lukaku said. “I want to be somewhere where I can play my best football and hopefully win titles. It’s up to me to work hard but there are choices to make. Things like that happen in football and I’m confident I will make the right choice. I’m looking at everything but first of all I want to go on holiday and relax a little bit. I’m 21 but I think I’m experienced enough now. I’ve played a lot of games and scored a lot of goals and now I want to win titles and become one of the best. I have a few ideas but we’ll see. I have to have discussions first and have to think about it. I want to go home and then I will decide. It will be soon.”

Atletico Madrid and Tottenham have shown interest, and Everton seems a logical fit to retain the player that helped them earn European play.

There’s always the option of returning to Chelsea, and we saw last year with Luis Suarez that even a player lobbying to leave a club can end up staying, but with Mourinho not showing an inclination that he rates the Belgian either, that seems less than likely at this point.

[ MORE: Romelu Lukaku wants out of Chelsea - from June ]
[ MORE: Report: Romelu Lukaku wants to leave Chelsea - from April ]
[ MORE: Could Romelu Lukaku’s Chelsea career be over before it gets started? - from March ]

Lukaku and Chelsea teammate Thibaut Courtois - pictured here - and the rest of the Belgian team is just now returning home from the World Cup:

Back to Belgium! #WorldCup2014 pic.twitter.com/3kyDJgHlKX

— Belgian Red Devils (@BelRedDevils) July 7, 2014

Courtois also has serious decisions to make, having spent three years on loan at Atletico Madrid and establishing himself as a top-5 goalkeeper in the world despite potentially being behind current Chelsea number-1 Petr Cech.

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