When Manchester United signed Romelu Lukaku for £75 million plus add-ons earlier this summer, there were some football fans that thought the Red Devils overpaid for the striker.

However, just weeks later, Paris Saint-Germain were spending almost £200 million on Neymar smashing the world transfer fee in the process.

Suddenly, that fee for Lukaku didn’t seem quite so high.

And with the former Everton forward scoring 11 goals in 10 appearances in all competitions for Jose Mourinho’s side this season, it’s already beginning to look like a bargain.

In fact, according to a scientific study by the CIES Football Observatory, Lukaku’s value has risen more than any other player since the summer.

They suggest that his value has increased by an incredible £49.3 million and is now around £140.4 million.

Not bad.

CIES statement

A CIES statement read: “The estimated value of Romelu Lukaku increased by 54% during the last three months: from €102.7m before his transfer to Manchester United to €158.5m after his excellent start of the season.

“Beyond inflation, expensive transfers to other teams, contract extensions and top level performances are the key reasons underlying the strongest increases observed.”

Check out the top 10 value increases in the past three months thanks to their performances and general inflation:

If Everton weren’t already regretting selling Lukaku for so ‘cheap’ given their poor start to the campaign, they certainly will be after seeing this report.

Mourinho on Lukaku's overall game

Lukaku currently leads the Premier League goalscoring charts with seven goals but his boss thinks there is much more to his game than just goals.

"Of course it is nice for a striker to score, it is nice for him to equal the record of such a legend in the Premier League like Andy,’ Mourinho told Sky Sports after United beat Crystal Palace 4-0 on Saturday. 

"But I am happy with him – it doesn’t matter if he scores or not. I was thinking in the latter stages of the game that probably Lukaku doesn’t score in this game and I was thinking he [already] had a good performance and a good contribution for us.

"So Lukaku is not just about the goals he scores, he is about the way he plays and allows other people with different qualities than him to have conditions to shine and perform."