Four-star Lukaku is world-class, says Everton boss Koeman

A delighted Ronald Koeman lavished praise on Romelu Lukaku as the big Belgian hit four in Everton’s 6-3 demolition of Bournemouth on Saturday.

Lukaku’s haul catapulted him to the top of the Premier League scoring charts, ahead of Chelsea’s Diego Costa and Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal.

The striker scored after just 30 seconds to give Koeman’s side the lead over the out-of-form Cherries, before netting once more in the first half and twice late on.

Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images

The win saw Everton, who are undefeated in the Premier League in 2017, move to within six points of a Champions League place.

After the game, Koeman hailed his towering frontman as one of the best strikers on the planet.

“He’s a world-class striker,” said Koeman. “He’s improving but the big quality he’s showing every day – something that maybe isn’t so difficult in training but it is in games – is how clinical he is. His finishing is one of the best.
“I have the pleasure every day to be on the training pitch when he is finishing, he will always finish in training.

“He has world-class quality in scoring goals and that was really important because to win the game today we needed to score at least four goals.”