Lukaku Must Be Given the Same Respect As Ronaldo and Lewandowski, Former Chelsea Star Insists

• Romelu Lukaku is back at Chelsea seven years after leaving them to join Premier League rivals Everton
• The 28-year-old Belgium has however stepped up his game following his contributions to Inter Milan's Serie A triumph
• Ex-Blues star who is now a pundit Joe Cole has warned that the attacker must be accorded the same respect as Ronaldo and Lewandowski

Premier League legend Joe Cole has insisted that Chelsea's new signing Romelu Lukaku deserves the same respect as both Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski.

The Belgian attacker recently completed a £98 million move to rejoin the Stamford Bridge dwellers from Inter Milan.

Lukaku played a crucial role in helping his immediate former club emerge Italian League champions last campaign.

And he is back in England to fight for more silverware - just two years after leaving Manchester United for a fresh start in Italy.

Cole believes the former Everton attacker has the ability to replicate the numbers of both Ronaldo and the Bayern Munich goal poacher if he maintains his momentum according to Goal quoting SunSport.

What Joe Cole said about Lukaku

“He has got all the attributes you want from a striker. Sometimes you play with strikers who have great movement but cannot hold the ball up, or they are not clean with the ball so you can’t bounce it off them.

"Lukaku is the whole package. He is in the same bracket as Robert Lewandowski and Cristiano Ronaldo. I am not putting him quite up there with those two at the moment, but he can become that kind of player if he keeps improving the way he has. Any midfielder would love playing with him.”

The 39-year-old former footballer turned pundit added that Thomas Tuchel's squad lacks weaknesses adding that they are definitely title contenders.

Joe Cole predicts Premier League contenders

“I think it puts them right on the level with Manchester City, especially if they don’t do anything more. I look at the Chelsea squad now and don’t see any weaknesses.

Lukaku had an interesting Euro 2020 outing after scoring four goals in five appearances for Belgium but crashed out of the competition at the quarterfinals after losing 2-1 to Italy.

How Lukaku beats Neymar to become most expensive player ever

Legit.ng earlier reported that Romelu Lukaku is on the verge of becoming the second most expensive Premier League signing in history.

The former Manchester United attacker is on the verge of completing a deal of around £97.5 million to re-join Chelsea this summer.

He was instrumental in Inter Milan winning their first Serie A title in over a decade last campaign - stopping Juventus from retaining the silverware for the 10th consecutive time.