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Roberto Martinez "not concerned" by Romelu Lukaku future

Roberto Martinez believes that Romelu Lukaku deserves more credit for the way he has pushed on at Everton this season.

Everton manager Roberto Martinez has insisted that he is "not concerned" by recent rumours surrounding the future of Romelu Lukaku.

The Belgian international switched agents this week, ending a long-term arrangement with Christophe Henrotay to instead sign up with Mino Raiola.

Raiola, who has the likes of Mario Balotelli and Zlatan Ibrahimovic on his books, suggested earlier this year that Lukaku could play a big role at Juventus.

Despite the change in agent, and the increased transfer speculation that comes with it, Martinez remains confident that his star striker will remain at the club beyond this season.

"Rom has changed his agent but we are not concerned. He is entitled to do that," the Spaniard is quoted as saying by ESPN. "Everyone speaks about the colourful character that Mino Raiola is but he has a lot of players who are happy to stay at one club.

"I dealt with Mino Raiola at Wigan and not many people know that he had Danny de Ridder or Vladimir Weiss, players who have been happy to stay at a club. I don't think there is anything to read into that.

"It has been a very interesting season from Rom's point of view. At the age of 21 he had to cope with coming back from a World Cup and it affected his physical level until January. Since January he has been very consistent and he probably hasn't been given the credit his performances deserve. He has been performing really well."

Lukaku, who has scored 18 goals for Everton this season, joined the Toffees on a permanent basis from Chelsea last year for a club-record fee of £28m.

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Daniel Lewis
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Everton manager Roberto Martinez looks on prior his his team's match against Manchester City in the Premier League match on May 3, 2014
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