Phil Jagielka admits Everton miss Romelu Lukaku

Everton captain Phil Jagielka has been at Goodison Park for quite some time - ten years, in fact - and it would not be a stretch to say that Romelu Lukaku was his most talented teammate during that time.

If anyone knows what kind of threat the big Belgian will pose for Manchester United on Sunday, it’s Jagielka. Speaking to ESPNFC, “Jags” has issued a warning ahead of the this weekend’s match.

You normally get somebody who is physical but can't shift -- but once Rom gets going there is no catching him.

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He is a difficult player [to mark]. We have trained against him for quite a few years and played alongside him and, at the moment, we are obviously missing his goals.

The long time Blues’ skipper went on to elaborate on the fact that Everton do, indeed, miss Lukaku’s production.

As soon as we knew that Rom would be on his way -- and Ross has also not figured this season, so we have lost a few goals -- we had to spread goals around the team and it's all about everyone else now.

Gylfi has come in, and hopefully if he can't score goals he can assist a high number.

"It's for the other boys now. Dominic has come into the team after his great summer, Sandro has come in but not hit the ground running as far as goals go, but hopefully once we get through this tough period we will find some more fluidity further up the pitch.

The fact that the Toffees need scoring and need it quickly isn’t a secret, but it is startling to hear their leader speak of it so openly. Sigurdsson, Calvert-Lewin, and Ramirez need to be the danger men for Everton, and that starts on Sunday at Manchester United.

Jagielka, of course, is no stranger to the back of the net. The 35 year old bagged three goals of his own last season.