Romelu Lukaku has insisted that he should not be compared to Cristiano Ronaldo, despite his recent goalscoring exploits for club and country.
The Belgian striker has been in prolific form in the last few seasons, in particular, having netted 47 goals in just 72 Serie A games during his two-year stint with Inter Milan, before returning to former club Chelsea over the summer where he has already netted a first league goal for the club.
The £97.5m arrival at Stamford Bridge has also been a consistent goalscoring presence at international level, having recorded an impressive tally thus far of 66 goals in 99 appearances, a haul that leaves him top of the all-time goalscoring charts for Belgium.
Despite that remarkable record, he will have to go some way to edge past the man currently sitting atop the pile for most international goals scored, with Cristiano Ronaldo recently netting a late brace against the Republic of Ireland to move past Ali Daei as the outright leading scorer in world football with 111 goals for his country.
The Portuguese icon had already been in the headlines of late due to his high profile return to Manchester United, 12 years after having originally left the club to secure a move to Real Madrid in an £80m deal.
Now back in the Premier League, Ronaldo will once again be pitted against Lukaku in the race for the Golden Boot, with the more senior man having edged the 28-year-old to the accolade in Italy last season.
While both men will be vying to come out on top this time around, Lukaku has insisted it is ‘useless’ to compare himself to the serial-winning forward.
“Don’t ever compare me to Cristiano Ronaldo, never,” Lukaku said at a press conference ahead of Belgium’s World Cup qualifier against Czech Republic..
“Cristiano Ronaldo is, for me, in the top three best players in the history of football. I’m not going to rank him from first to third but he’s in there.
“What he has achieved in football today for players of my generation is something exceptional.
“I was lucky enough to play against him in Italy and now that he’s back in the Premier League, it’s all good for English football.
“As for the rest, comparing statistics and all that, it’s useless.”
