BBC pundit Garth Crooks is backing Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku to score more goals than Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo.
Both scored braces for their respective clubs at the weekend, but Crooks feels Lukaku offers a lot more to his team, and will come up with the goods on a more regular basis:
“If I had to make a choice of playing Ronaldo or Lukaku at centre forward there would be no contest. It would be Lukaku every time. Granted Ronaldo is 36. However, there is a touch of irony in the fact that Lukaku used to play for United and scored some magnificent goals but was never loved by their fans and certainly not in the way Ronaldo is.”
“It will also be interesting to see who scores more goals, although I put my money on Lukaku. His two against Aston Villa were the clearest indication I have seen of how the Belgian striker’s game has developed. His hold-up play against Liverpool was impressive but his ability to run away from the ball and trust the pass was outstanding. Lukaku is now the real deal.”
Lukaku certainly looks like a different player after returning to this country. The Belgian used to be pretty wasteful in front of goal, despite scoring regularly for the likes of West Brom, Everton and, to a lesser extent, United.
However, he barely had a touch against Aston Villa on Saturday and still scored two crucial goals for the Blues, demonstrating how clinical he has become.
Whether Crooks will be proven right with his prediction that Lukaku will score more than Ronaldo, we shall have to wait and see, but three goals from three games is not a bad start whatsoever.
