Michael Owen makes bizarre claim about Man Utd man Romelu Lukaku

Lukaku has gone seven Manchester United games without a goal and he has come under fire from a section of United fans, prompting Jose Mourinho to launch a vehement defence of the 24-year-old.

Last month Mourinho said: “The fans are the fans and I also know that the fans paid their tickets, they are free to express themselves the way they want to express but my job is to protect my players and I think Romelu is one of the players that should be untouchable in terms of the respect from everyone.”

The Belgium striker was back among the goals this week though as he scored three times in two friendly games for Roberto Martinez’s men and former United forward is sure Lukaku will come good again soon for his club side.

“He will score 25 goals-plus. I am sure he will. I think it is just a minor blip. He has a good record over the years against Newcastle,” said Owen.

“At Everton, he would score in groups. He’d get a hat-trick, then a two and a four and a three, then he wouldn’t score.

“I would prefer my striker to score one every game than in clumps like that, but someone will be on the end of a two or three-goal bashing by him very soon.

“A few weeks ago, everyone was ­wondering whether he’d be breaking records, he had such a good start.

“We were asking if he’d ­become an all-time great ­because he was scoring relentlessly. He took to United like a duck to water and everything was perfect. Then all of a sudden a question mark comes.”

Lukaku, who signed from Everton for £75million in the summer, has scored 11 goals in 17 games for United this season – far from being an all-time great.