Romelu Lukaku in action for the Red Devils (Getty)

Alan Shearer has told Romelu Lukaku’s critics that they threaten to take the edge off the Manchester United striker.

The Belgian has made a blistering start to his Old Trafford career following his £75million switch from Everton.

Following on from scoring in the Uefa Super Cup against Real Madrid he’s bagged three goals in his first two Premier League games for the club.

But that hasn’t stopped some from criticising the 24-year-old. Among them has been Arsenal legend Thierry Henry. While noting Lukaku’s strengths, he’s highlighted deficiencies in the striker’s movement and touch.

Lukaku scored against Swansea on Saturday (Getty)

However Shearer has come to Lukaku’s defence, saying those elements are ‘overrated’ and that if the Manchester United striker were to listen to them it could actually have a negative impact on his game

‘On Saturday, there was some criticism about his movement in the link-up play. Yet [Jose] Mourinho said in the summer he was not interested in all that and he was not that type of player,’ the former Newcastle and England centre-forward wrote in his column for The Sun.

‘He just wanted a goalscorer operating in and around the box to put the ball away. All this business about strikers dropping deep to link up play is overrated in my opinion anyway.

‘In my time at Newcastle, if we were going through a bad spell I found myself dropping deeper to help my team-mates.

‘But at the same time, this was negating my greatest strength. When we were playing well and I was on the shoulder of the last defender, we were dangerous.’

Shearer is the record goalscorer in the Premier League, with 260 (Getty)

Manchester United 2018/19 Fixtures

Fulham (A) - Feb 9
PSG (H) - Feb 12
Chelsea (A) - Feb 18
Liverpool (H) - Feb 24
Crystal Palace (A) - Feb 27
Southampton (H) - Mar 2

While Lukaku has scored three goals in Manchester United’s opening two games, Jose Mourinho’s side have found the back of the net another five times. That signals the threat in the side while Shearer also believes those behind Lukaku can provide the creativity so the club’s No.9 doesn’t have to.

‘There is enough creativity in that Manchester United team right now as it is. It seems to have a lot more pace and energy, with more players now confident enough to run beyond the ball.

‘Marcus Rashford, Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Juan Mata all have quite enough ability to threaten and open up a defence without the need for Lukaku to come back and join in. Just stay up there and finish it off.’

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