Lukaku's agent appears to be fuelling Everton exit rumours once again

Romelu Lukaku's agent has already proven to have a bit of a loose tongue and his big mouth seems to be laying the groundwork for a summer transfer war for the Belgian striker.

The agent in question, Mino Railola, has already spoken of how he wouldn't have allowed Lukaku to join Everton in the first place had he been representing him earlier.

Only last week he said that Everton would sell the 22-year-old at the end of the season should the right offer come in.

Now we have a dubious Daily Mail article claiming that Everton have placed a £45m valuation on Lukaku should any clubs come calling.

The article claims that PSG and Juventus are interested in signing Lukaku who, although happy at Everton, wants to play Champions League football and will review his future at the end of season.

Why blame the agent? Well this has all the hallmarks of being an agent-fed article, designed to crank up the pressure on Everton and alert any clubs interested in signing Lukaku.

More clubs interested = bidding war = equals more money = bigger payday for agents.

It's fairly underhand stuff but something we should expect from Raiola, who has developed a bit of reputation for being fairly ruthless and regularly moving his players from club to club.

If I'm wrong and he doesn't have anything to do with it then we can file this one under 'baseless speculation' and one that has rightly been batted away by Roberto Martinez in his recent press conference.

Should Everton be concerned? Not for the short-term, Lukaku seems happy and is in fine form.

Next summer could well be interesting though. But given he is under contract any transfer will cost the buying side a huge amount of money,which would at least soften the blow of losing such a talented player.