Ryan Giggs talks Lukaku and Everton Season outlook in column

In his new column with Sky Sports, Welsh legend and former Manchester United star Ryan Giggs talked shop about a variety of English Premier League topics, including some that touch close to Everton interests.

After expressing his confidence that former Toffee Romelu Lukaku will score goals with United, he did comment that the former Toffee star needs to improve his first touch, and then said:

“Romelu Lukaku will score goals, there's no doubt about that.

“He's still got to work on his first touch but he has already been scoring plenty at West Brom and Everton and will get more chances at Old Trafford.

“What he won't have experienced is the pressure of being a Manchester United forward. He wouldn't have felt that before and you can't get away with the odd mediocre performance.”

While we can all recall the ‘odd mediocre performance’ from Lukaku, I don’t actually think the pressure of being at United is going to be a problem for him. He’s quite frankly surrounded by more fellow goalscorers than he had last year with the likes of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial, and Paul Pogba roaming about.

With playmakers like Henrikh Mkhitaryan behind him, in many ways the pressure on Lukaku will be less regardless of the shirt he is wearing. In no way is he expected to carry the same kind of scoring load for United that he did for Everton last year.

Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images

Giggs also spoke about former teammate Wayne Rooney, referring to him as a “proven goalscorer” who takes advantage of his chances. While Manchester City was described as the team to beat in this year’s Premier League, Everton was mentioned alongside Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea as other interesting teams in the league this year.

“Everton are an interesting one and Ronald Koeman has made plenty of signings, including obviously bringing back Wayne Rooney. He's a proven goalscorer and scores more often than not when he gets chances.”

Not as controversial as other former footballers now working in media, Giggs’ hot takes hardly set the world alight but it is nice to see Everton recognized and discussed among the Premier League’s elite by a guy who knows what it takes to win trophies. Here’s hoping that we give him more to talk about in the near future.