With it looking increasingly likely that Romelu Lukaku will leave Goodison Park and Everton at the end of the season we took a closer look at the impact the big Belgian has had on Everton this season.
This season to-date, Lukaku has scored 18 goals in 31 Premier League appearances.
What affect could that have hypothetically had on Everton if you were to wipe Lukaku from the scoring charts this season?
Whilst his opening two goals against Southampton would have seen the result change from a 3-0 win to a 1-0 win and his goals against Sunderland, Aston Villa (on both occasions), Leicester, Stoke (also on both occasions) and West Ham would also not have directly affected the results, his goals against West Brom in September, Liverpool in October, West Ham and Bournemouth in November, Crystal Palace and Norwich in December directly earned Everton 8 points this season.
He has also claimed 6 assists this season, take the goals away from those results and we would lose an additional point against Watford and another against Spurs.
That would leave Everton behind Norwich City in 17th place, deep in the relegation battle just 2 points ahead of Sunderland.
In the Cups, we would have been knocked out by Barnsley in the Capital One Cup in normal time instead of winning in extra time and we could well have been knocked out of the FA Cup by Chelsea.
Whilst it will obviously be difficult to hold on to him if he is desperate to leave, can Everton really afford to sell him? Even if £65million is on offer?
Vital Everton
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