Football
ESPN staff 10y

Roberto Martinez: Romelu Lukaku was money well spent

Boss Roberto Martinez branded Romelu Lukaku a 28 million pound bargain after he fired Everton to a 2-0 win at West Brom.

The Toffees' record buy scored inside two minutes at The Hawthorns for his first goal since making his loan move from Chelsea permanent.

He curled in from the edge of the box after Jonas Olsson's poor clearance before Kevin Mirallas added a second thanks to Ben Foster's mistake. It sealed a comfortable win for Everton and Martinez believes Lukaku, who scored 16 goals on loan at Goodison Park last season, can be a steal.

"He is only a young man and I'm sure money can be spent in many ways but I didn't mind the sum because he was money well spent,'' he said.

"When you bring a player into the club it's always a gamble but in this case it wasn't at all because we had the advantage of working with Rom over last season.

"For us it was very important to keep him. I felt he developed a homely feeling, his relationship with the fans is quite unique and he is everything you expect in a striker. He is young, wants to win, he works extremely hard and he has everything.''

It was Everton's first win of the season and Martinez felt it was deserved, although he offered support to opposite number Alan Irvine.

He said: "We scored at the right times and created chances. West Brom were fantastic though and they are in transition and trying to bed some players in. They play with a lot of energy but I felt we never looked like conceding until the last minute.''

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