Former Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has said that he understands Romelu Lukaku's desire to leave Everton in search of silverware.

Lukaku had been on the verge of signing a club-record five-year contract at Goodison Park before performing a U-turn last week and suggesting that he could instead move elsewhere this summer.

The Belgian is the Premier League's top-scorer this season with 21 goals, and Ferdinand believes that he has every right to consider his options if he doesn't believe that Everton will win trophies "immediately".

"I think back to retirement a couple of years ago for myself. What will you think about when you retire? It isn't money. Players of today's generation will be very well paid if you're playing Premier League football. But the thing that will be at the forefront of your mind will be where are my trophies. And that is what Romelu Lukaku is thinking now," he wrote on his official Facebook page.

"Everton are a team that are building. They are in a great position at the moment, new ownership, new money with ideas of going to a new stadium, so the future is looking bright. Does Romelu Lukaku want to wait for that future? He wants it immediately, he wants it now. He wants to win titles and play Champions League football.

"I understand his desire for that. I was in a situation at Leeds. I was playing Champions League football but were we winning? Did we win the league? No. The crux of me leaving Leeds was the idea that I was going to win the Premier League. Simple as that.

"[Everton] don't seem to be a team that can offer him what he wants in terms of winning. Everton are a big club, but they aren't winners, they were winners in the 80s and they need to get back to that. They are building to get back to that. But there are some players who are impatient and want it now and seems Romelu Lukaku is one of them."

Ferdinand's former club Manchester United are one of the teams that have been linked with a move for Lukaku at the end of the season.