Romelu Lukaku has stunned Everton and told the club he is not prepared to sign a new contract.
The extraordinary turnaround surrounding the Belgium international's future comes just days after it seemed likely that he was going to put pen-to-paper on a deal in the next 48 hours which would have seen him become Everton's first £100,000 per week player.
Everton's hierarchy were informed on Tuesday afternoon following a routine training session at the club's Finch Farm training base.
It is all the more extraordinary as Mino Raiola, Lukaku's agent, had gone on record twice in recent weeks to say that it was '99.