Romelu Lukaku still has to win over doubters as he returns to Premier League with Chelsea

Chelsea evidently believe that Romelu Lukaku has become a far superior striker to the one who left them in 2014 and even to the player who departed the Premier League two years ago.

It explains why they have paid Inter Milan a club record £98million - just shy of the British transfer record paid earlier this month by Manchester City for Jack Grealish - in what amounts to a significant statement of intent.

Yet so many who follow the English game remain wholly unconvinced by Lukaku. Whether he likes it or not, the Belgian will have something to prove as he returns to these shores.

Not many £98m footballers have an asterisk next to a career record of 251 goals in 508 club matches, not to mention 64 in 98 in the international arena. Lukaku's career seems cursed by caveats.

A lot of it is explained by the superiority complex that surrounds the self-styled 'best league in the world'. If a player hasn't impressed in the Premier League, they somehow can't be considered world class, as though Serie A and elsewhere are amateur competitions.

Lukaku's very good scoring returns of 17, 15, 10, 18, 25, 16 and 12 in consecutive seasons in the Premier League with West Brom, Everton and Manchester United between 2012 and 2019 are conveniently forgotten.

Or they're quashed by the suggestion Lukaku is a 'flat track bully' in English football, unable to score against the big teams when it really matters. This lingering perception about his game that does at least have some basis in truth.

Just this week, two of the game's most respected pundits, Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher, added fuel to the debate talking on Sky's The Overlap podcast.

'There's something about Lukaku though, even though his goal record is amazing each season,' said Carragher.

'When we talk about a Robert [Lewandowski] or a Harry Kane or other strikers, there's never a question about them.

'But with Lukaku there seems to be that slight "but" to me. Just something that he still has to prove.

'It's not like he's got a lot of honours in his career or been that man who's taken someone to something like he did last season with Inter Milan. He was at Man United, a huge signing, but he never got across the line.'

It doesn't help that Lukaku has commanded such enormous transfer fees throughout his career. They're almost at the £300m mark now but Chelsea will see their £98m as money well spent if they add the Premier League title to Champions League success.

They believe a player who scored 64 goals in 95 appearances for Inter, helping them win their first Scudetto in 11 years last season, has improved from the underwhelming figure we saw at Jose Mourinho's United.

Thomas Tuchel sees Lukaku as an upgrade on Timo Werner, a good fit into his system and a key component as Chelsea look to push Manchester City all the way in the title race.

Lukaku is seen by Chelsea as the player who can now step up and make the different in every game, scoring the winner rather than the fourth goal in a rout.

As Neville opined, you can't imagine Jurgen Klopp signing Lukaku for Liverpool 'in a million years' and you can't picture him under Pep Guardiola at City either.

But Chelsea, who love that robust and combative centre forward in the Diego Costa or Didier Drogba mould? Absolutely. Just don't mention they let him go.

Confidence won't be an issue. Lukaku made clear during Euro 2020 that he does consider himself in that top bracket of world class strikers.

'When they talk about Lewandowski, [Karim] Benzema, [Luis] Suarez, Kane, they would say it's world class level and with me it's always being in good form,' he said.

'In the last two years I think I have shown it's not just good form. I belong with that group, I am at that level.'

Lukaku is one of just six players to have scored 10 or more league goals in one of Europe's top five leagues each season since 2012-13.

He's in esteemed company with Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Lewandowski, Suarez and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

By the way, seven of those seasons were in the Premier League yet some argue those goals were somehow not important enough.

It is true Lukaku has scored nine Premier League goals against each of West Ham and Southampton during his career and eight against all of Crystal Palace, Sunderland and Bournemouth.

But for the 'flat track bully' tag he has also netted five against Liverpool, four against City and three against Man United. He has just the one against Chelsea and one against Tottenham.

It's only when you add in the number of games he's played against these leading teams you properly understand the accusation. Five in 15 against Liverpool, four in 14 against City, one in 12 against Spurs.

At the end of the day, it is in matches against these opponents that will decide if Chelsea win the title or not so there is certainly room for improvement on his record.

But more encouraging is how Lukaku scored big goals in important games as Inter won the title last season.

He scored twice and created the other two in a 4-2 win over Torino in November, netted the winner against Napoli in December, dominated Lazio with two goals and an assist in February and during the title run-in scored crucial goals in slender wins over Torino, Bologna and Sassuolo.

Lukaku also scored against Juventus, AC Milan and Roma during the course of the Serie A campaign.

As it happens, Lukaku credits ex-Chelsea boss Antonio Conte for 'changing' him as a player, writing the now ex-Inter boss a heartfelt message on Instagram when the manager left in May.

It's also important to note that Inter's Scudetto was the first silverware Lukaku has won since the 2009-10 Belgian League with his first club Anderlecht.

Chelsea will hope the success has only whetted Lukaku's appetite and that Conte's work with him has sharpened an attacking edge and a sense of responsibility in the big games.

You sense it will take two or three 30-goal seasons and the Premier League trophy back behind glass at Stamford Bridge fur Lukaku to finally win everyone over.