Clarke offers Lukaku no guarantees

West Bromwich Albion manager Steve Clarke says Romelu Lukaku he will not be guaranteed a starting role at the Hawthorns this season.

Belgium international Lukaku secured a loan move to West Brom from Chelsea last week after being frustrated by a lack of first-team opportunities at Stamford Bridge.

Clarke feels the 19-year-old has the perfect platform to show the English Premier League his quality but said he may face competition for a starting berth.

“He’s certainly hungry, I know that,” Clarke said.

“He wants to do well and prove himself in the Premier League.

“Whether he has grievances with Chelsea is not for me to comment on. I don’t know what happened last year at Chelsea.

“It was obviously going to be difficult for him to get in the team ahead of Didier Drogba and Fernando Torres and that proved to be the case.

“But he’s got a clean slate this year. He’s one of a number of strikers competing for a place in my team and I’m hoping that at the end of this year he’s not complaining about anything.”

Clarke was impressed with Lukaku’s goal-scoring performance for Belgium in their 4-2 win over the Netherlands on Wednesday.

“We had somebody there watching him and had good reports,” he said.

“He came on, did very well, scored the goal and helped to turn the game in the favour of Belgium. It’s good when your players do well.”