Phil Neville has claimed that "sensational" Romelu Lukaku is still improving and expects the Everton striker to successfully replace Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Manchester United.

The Red Devils have reportedly reached a £75m agreement to sign Lukaku, beating Premier League rivals Chelsea to the 24-year-old's signature.

Neville believes that the Belgian's prolific scoring rate over the past five seasons is enough to prove that he will be a big hit at Old Trafford, where he will fill the void left by recently-departed free agent Ibrahimovic.

"I think you've seen an improvement, I think there were of couple of criticisms - can he play in big games? Can he score in the big games? I think he half dispelled that last season," he told BBC Sport. "He scored in a couple of the big games and I think he is improving all the time.

"I think he's a different type of striker from what United have had for a long time, someone that can probably run in behind, can be a little bit of a battering ram, that United can play on the counter-attack. I think with Zlatan last season United couldn't play on the counter-attack because obviously his age and the fact his legs are slowing down a little bit.

"Now you've got someone with genuine, genuine speed that United can play on the counter-attack. It will be interesting to see how he fits into this United team because there's a lot of talk about 'Jose sold him, didn't play him at Chelsea', but that was four or five years ago.

"Romelu Lukaku is a different player now, he is a better player. His record actually is sensational. I mean 25 goals last year, 18 the year before. If you go back to his West Brom days when he was on loan there from Chelsea [he scored] 17 Premier League goals. If he gets anything like 17 to 20 this year United will be successful."

Neville spent time with both United and Everton during his playing days, making over 500 appearances combined for the two clubs.