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This article is part of Football FanCast's Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers...

Former West Brom star Romelu Lukaku has given surprise praise to one of the Baggies' contracted players following Belgium’s thrashing of Scotland on Monday night.

What’s he said?

The nation's Euro 2020 hopes were obliterated as Belgium smashed them 4-0 at Hampden Park.

Lukaku was one of four different goalscorers as he opened the scoring with a ninth-minute strike against Steve Clarke’s side to practically end their chances of making next summer’s tournament with them sitting some nine points off second spot in Group I.

The Inter Milan striker has since leapt to the defence of his former boss following the brutal defeat and in the process also handed out praise to Oliver Burke, who left West Brom on loan this summer but didn't even feature in the match.

Lukaku, who bagged 17 goals in 38 appearances at Albion, said:

“I worked with Steve at West Brom and he will get it right for Scotland.

“When we were there together, a lot of people didn’t think we would get to the position we did, but we did it.

“If you give Steve time, he will get it right. He is the right man to give young players a chance and to test them.

“[Ryan Fraser and] Oliver Burke. He was at West Brom and is a good player with a lot of pace.

“You just have to develop them and work hard. If you do that, things will improve.”

A surprise or just daft?

Lukaku wasn’t at the Hawthorns when £15m club-record man Burke walked through the door, so it is surprising to see him name him as a player he rates.

The winger has been quite the flop in the west Midlands since joining from RB Leipzig in the summer of 2017, scoring just once in 24 appearances, per Transfermarkt.

Burke has recently joined Alaves on loan after being unable to fit in manager Slaven Bilic’s plans this season and towards the end of the last campaign he was sent out on loan to Celtic. Thus, his time at Albion has been far from fantastic.

Lukaku may have been trying to back the man who brought him to the Hawthorns on loan all those years ago but to throw Burke’s name out there as a potentially good player is a little far-fetched.

However, at 22, he still has plenty of time to prove his critics wrong, no matter how unlikely that may seem at Albion.

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