Martinez: You’re not going to find a better finisher in world football

While Everton’s former manager Roberto Martinez made some controversial statements on Sky Sports' Goals on Sunday show yesterday, he also spoke about striker Romelu Lukaku, who he continues to manage in his current position as manager of Belgium. The forward scored four times on Saturday and now leads the Premier League Golden Boot race.

"That's why we made the investment [£28 million to sign him from Chelsea in July 2014].

"At that moment you are trying to manage the player that he can be.

"Now at 23 he is starting to be that player consistently, and as a No. 9 you are not going to find a better finisher in world football.''

“The big bonus of Rom is that as a number 9 he can run in behind, he has the power and the pace, he can beat you just with force. Then he has the talent, earlier in his career he played as a winger, and he has the quality. He is not an athlete running with the ball, he is a footballer running with the ball.

“And then he is a finisher. All those elements, the variety, Rom can be anything he wants. He is still a young man. We love to build footballers up. But what you can see with Rom is that every year is getting better.

“It has been a real well planned journey. I can see a big difference with Rom in the national team.”

He added that he was happy to see Ross Barkley turn it around after a tough start to the season.

“With Ross Barkley, I will always be biased because I love his talent, but to see young players developing, he is ready to make things happen for the team on a consistent basis.

“He is effective when he is on the pitch when he is having fun. The quality that he has, the physicality combined with the technical ability that he has is quite unique.

“You always want the perfect footballer and you want him to defend well, but when he has a smile on his face he is a very special talent. He became very important with us.”

Martinez finished off with a word about Tom Davies, who has had a sensational start to his senior career with the Blues.

“Tom Davies has an incredible future, too. Those two combining, they are as good as you are going to get in terms of young players.”