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Everton defender and captain Phil Jagielka has heaped praise on Manchester United's Forward Romelu Lukaku ahead of their Premier League showdown this weekend.

Jagielka described Lukaku as a complete player and agreed that Everton are still struggling to replace him.

"He is still a young man, but he is just about coming to the part of his career when you expect him to kick on.

"Hopefully that's not the case at Old Trafford on Sunday, but we expect him to be one of their key players.

"We knew Rom was going to go on to great things, and he has started his career at United fantastically well.

"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.

"But the way football is, and the crazy way the market is, Rom left us. It's the way it goes, but when you have played with and alongside somebody for a while, there is a friendship there and a battle to want to come out on top.

"The only way we can do that is stopping him scoring. It's obviously vice-versa for him."

Although Everton spent £140 million on new signings at the club and an additional free transfer for Wayne Rooney, they have only recorded one win this season and have suffered several humiliating defeats both at home and abroad.