Romelu Lukaku would not have joined Everton had his new agent Mino Raiola been involved as he talks up transfer to Manchester United

Raiola has wasted little time in sparking talk over Lukaku's future and claims that the Belgian is better than Diego Costa

Everton fans have an excuse if they find themselves slightly agitated by Romelu Lukaku’s new agent, Mino Raiola. Less than 24 hours after Toffees manager Roberto Martinez played down the impact of the striker switching agents, Raiola has come out and claimed Lukaku would never have joined Everton had he been involved in the move last summer.

Instead, Lukaku would perhaps still be with Chelsea, or even with a club such as Juventus. And furthermore, Raiola insisted that 21-year-old Lukaku is better than Diego Costa, Chelsea’s summer signing who currently has 19 goals in his first Premier League season – matched only by Tottenham’s Harry Kane.

Lukaku is currently joint-18th in the goalscorers charts with 8 league goals this season.

“If we had met each other earlier, he wouldn’t have played for Everton,” said Raiola, who became Lukaku’s new agent last month after he severed ties with Christophe Henrotay.

“Maybe somewhere else, maybe he would still be at Chelsea. I want to be clear: Romelu is a better striker than Diego Costa and could have done the same as the Spaniard did this season. But the Chelsea directors had decided to buy another star than giving confidence to one of their young boys.”

Raiola went on to suggest that Italian league champions Juventus were interested in signing the Belgium international last summer, but could not afford the £28m fee that Everton eventually paid to sign Lukaku.

Costa has scored 19 goals this season (GETTY IMAGES)

He also suggested that Lukaku could be on the move again sooner rather than later, as he talked up a transfer to “play for one of the world’s best team” along the likes of Manchester United and Bayern Munich.

“Juventus was interested in him last summer but I want to be clear: I don’t think one of the Italian teams can pay that amount of money for one player. It’s almost impossible. We have never said he would leave at the end of this season.

“We will see what happens in the summer, but the Everton directors don’t have to think Rom will play there for the rest of his career. Later on, he’ll play for one of world’s best teams: PSG, Manchester City, Manchester United or Bayern Munich. Big names, but nothing is impossible as Rom has great potential.”