Romelu Lukaku was seen as a “joke player” by fans and pundits when he left Manchester United for Inter Milan two years ago, according to Ian Wright.

However, the TV pundit says the Belgian international’s transformation since leaving Old Trafford has not been as radical as some would like you to believe:

“Me and Roy Keane were having a discussion about why Lukaku is now the player we’re seeing he is, and why he wasn’t that player at Man United. The fact that he had to play up front 50 percent of the time on his own, spaces he wanted to occupy [were filled] whether that’s by Rashford or Martial. If he drops deep like we saw him in the game on Saturday, where he got the ball and freight-trained, he does that. At Man United he didn’t have that. He was the furthest forward, back to goal.

“That is not what Lukaku is about, Lukaku is roaming from wing to wing in that area between lines, where they’re pushing forward but have a couple of defenders back and he’s just loitering. He’s just loitering to the point that when you see him there…that’s danger. I said when Romelu Lukaku left here [the Premier League], he left here with people waving him away like, ‘You’re a joke player, see you later!’, that was the vibe and you look at him now and he looks terrifying.”

Wright is taking a thinly veiled dig at Jose Mourinho’s tactics when he was in charge at United. The Portuguese has offered his own explanation about Lukaku’s development in recent days, stating it was just a matter of the player maturing.

Whatever the reason, the Belgian’s brace against Russia in the opening game of the European Championships, will present more questions about why he was allowed to leave United. Both Manchester City and Chelsea are now thought to be considering bringing him back to the Premier League, although the 28-year-old has already said that he is happy to stay in Italy.