Ronald Koeman believes Everton must prove that they are capable of retaining Romelu Lukaku by regularly challenging for major honours.
The Dutchman had previously appeared to suggest that Lukaku would need to leave Goodison Park in order to fulfill his true level of potential.
But Koeman has pledged to keep the Belgium international with Everton as long as possible and believes a renewed level of ambition will help ward off potential suitors.
He said: “First of all you had several headlines about what I said about different questions.
“It’s not to defend myself because it’s all about the headline you take out of text.
“What we like to show Romelu is that we are Everton and that we grow; that we will be bigger and then we will fight for titles.
“If you look now, if Everton stays on this level then then of course it’s not good that he finishes his career [here] because he’s one of the best strikers.
“He’s still 23 years old and even if he stays for more years, that’s not bad for his career because he’s improving, he learning.
“But he’s one of the better strikers that we have in the Premier League and maybe in Europe. Of course there is a lot of interest in the player.
“What I try to do is keep Romelu as long as possible at the club.”
Should Lukaku continue his currently prolific run of form for Everton, a host of clubs are expected to court his signature during the course of next summer.
“It’s a problem for the summer,” added Koeman.
“Of course we know we have to prepare Romelu for his position but maybe different positions too.
“He took the decision to stay because he had a good feeling from what happened at the start of the season.
“If we show, the team, the management and the board that we’re growing and we’re fast and improving, playing for Europe, that’s the first step always for the ambition of players.”