 Lukaku in 2012 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Romelu Menama Lukaku[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 13 May 1993 [1] | ||
| Place of birth | Antwerp, Belgium | ||
| Height | 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)[2] | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Everton (on loan from Chelsea) | ||
| Number | 17 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1999–2003 | Rupel Boom | ||
| 2003–2006 | Lierse | ||
| 2006–2009 | Anderlecht | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2009–2011 | Anderlecht | 73 | (33) |
| 2011– | Chelsea | 10 | (0) |
| 2012–2013 | → West Bromwich Albion (loan) | 35 | (17) |
| 2013– | → Everton (loan) | 9 | (8) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2008 | Belgium U15 | 4 | (1) |
| 2011 | Belgium U18 | 1 | (0) |
| 2009 | Belgium U21 | 5 | (1) |
| 2010– | Belgium | 24 | (5) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of match played 30 November 2013.
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of match played 15 October 2013 | |||
Romelu Menama Lukaku (born 13 May 1993) is a Belgian footballer who plays as a striker forPremier League club Everton on loan from Chelsea and the Belgium national team. He started his career with local side Rupel Boom, before being scouted and joining Lierse. He played well and attracted many clubs to his talents. He alerted Anderlecht and signed for the Belgian Pro League side in 2006.
Lukaku continued his development with Anderlecht and made his professional debut while still at school at the age of 16. Whilst playing for Anderlecht, he became the 2009–10 top scorer in Belgium as Anderlecht won the Belgian championship, and won the Belgian Ebony Shoe in 2011. In the 2011 summer transfer window, Lukaku signed for English Premier League club Chelsea for an undisclosed fee, penning a five-year contract with the London club.
Club career
Early career
Lukaku joined his local team Rupel Boom at the age of five.[3] After four seasons at Rupel Boom, Lukaku was discovered by scouts of Lierse SK, a Belgian Pro League team with an established youth academy. He played for Lierse from 2004 until 2006,[3] scoring 121 goals in 68 games.[4] After Lierse were relegated from the Belgian Pro League, Anderlecht bought no less than 13 youth players from Lierse in the 2006 mid-season, one of whom was Lukaku. He played three more years as a youth player with Anderlecht, scoring 131 goals in 93 games.
Anderlecht
When Lukaku turned 16 on 13 May 2009, he signed a professional contract with Anderlechtlasting until 2012.[5] and 11 days later, he made his Belgian First Division debut on 24 May 2009 in the championship play off match against Standard Liège as a 69th minute substitute fordefender Víctor Bernárdez.[6] Anderlecht lost the match 1–0. He scored his first goal at senior level against Zulte Waregem in the 89th minute after coming on as substitute for Kanu after 69 minutes.
Chelsea
In August 2011, Lukaku joined English club Chelsea for a fee reported to be around €12 million (£10 million), rising to €20 million (£17 million) in add-ons. Lukaku was given the number 18 shirt and signed a five-year contract.[7] He made his home debut in a 3–1 victory over Norwich City in the 83rd minute, coming on as a substitute for Fernando Torres.[8]
Lukaku made his first start for the club in the League Cup against Fulham. Chelsea went on to win the match on penalties. Lukaku spent the majority of the season playing for the reserves. On 13 May 2012, he started his first league match, against Blackburn Rovers, and turned in a man of the match performance, providing an assist for John Terry's opener.[9] Lukaku stressed, however, that he was disappointed with his involvement at the end of his debut season, revealing that, after his side's UEFA Champions League win on 19 May, he refused to hold the trophy as he didn't feel like a winner.[10]
Loan to West Bromwich Albion
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After speculation linking Lukaku to a loan move to Fulham,[11] on 10 August 2012, he joined West Bromwich Albion on a season-long loan deal.[12] He scored his first league goal eight days later, coming on as a substitute in the 77th minute in a 3–0 win against Liverpool.[13] He made his full debut in a win against Reading at The Hawthorns, scoring the game's only goal.[14]
On 24 November, Lukaku came on as a 70th minute substitute for Shane Long and netted a penalty and provided an assist toMarc-Antoine Fortuné, as West Brom defeated Sunderland 2–4 away.[15] The win proved to be West Brom's fourth consecutive win in the top flight for the first time since 1980.[16] On 12 January 2013, Lukaku had his first multi-goal game in the Premier League, giving West Brom a 0–2 lead against Reading, before a late comeback gave the Berkshire club a 3–2 victory.[17]
In the face of controversial claims that he wanted to stay with West Brom for another year asserted by English newspaper The Daily Mail,[18] Lukaku confirmed to the press that he still wished to become a legend at Stamford Bridge.[19] On 11 February, Lukaku came on off the bench and scored his 10th Premier league goal of the season against Liverpool in a match that ended 2–0.[20] He scored his second brace of the campaign, scoring both goals for West Brom in their 2–1 defeat of Sunderland on 23 February.[21] On 9 March, in a league match against Swansea City, Lukaku scored the equalising goal before having a penalty kick saved; West Brom eventually won the game courtesy of a Jonathan de Guzmán own goal.[22] On 19 May, coming on as a second-half substitute, Lukaku scored an incredible second-half perfect hat-trick, as West Brom came from three goals down to draw 5–5 in the season's final home game against Manchester United.[23] The game was Sir Alex Ferguson's 1,500th and last match in charge of United and the highest scoring draw in the history of the Premier League.[24] Despite being loaned out by the club, Lukaku outscored all of his Chelsea teammates in the Premier League that season, being the sixth-highest goal scorer of the2012–13 with 17 goals.
Loan to Everton
Lukaku seemed to rule out a further loan spell,[25] and played two league games for Chelsea at the beginning of the 2013–14 season. He also came on as a substitute in the 2013 UEFA Super Cup, ultimately missing the deciding penalty in the shootout as Chelsea lost to Bayern Munich. On the final day of the summer 2013 transfer window, however, he joined Evertonon a season-long loan.[26] The striker made his début for the Toffees away to West Ham on 21 September 2013, scoring the winning goal in a 3–2 victory for Everton. During the header, he had a collision with a West Ham defender and was taken of the pitch for some treatment. The physio had to tell him that he had scored the winner. [27] He scored twice on his home début 9 days later in a 3–2 win against Newcastle United, as well assisting Ross Barkley's goal.[28] He then opened the scoring in a 3–1 defeat to Manchester City in the following game.[29] He continued his impressive start at the club by netting the opening goal in a 2–0 win over Aston Villa and then scored twice in the first Merseyside derby of the season as Everton drew 3–3 againstLiverpool, with Lukaku stating afterwards that it was the best experience he has had in his short career.[30][31]
International career
Lukaku was a member of the Belgium under-21 team and scored a goal on his debut against Slovenia.[32] On 24 February 2010, Lukaku was named for the first time in theBelgium squad for the friendly against Croatia.[33] On 17 November 2010, he scored his first two international goals in the friendly match against Russia.[34]
Lukaku scored his first goal in almost two years for the national team, netting the winner in a 4–2 friendly victory over rivals the Netherlands on 15 August 2012.[35] On 11 October 2013, Lukaku scored two goals as Belgium defeated Croatia 2–1 to secure a place in theWorld Cup finals.[36]
Personal life
Lukaku was born in Antwerp,[37] a city in northern Belgium. His father, Roger Lukaku,[38] played professional football and was capped at international level byZaire.[39] He has a younger brother named Jordan, who has progressed through the youth academy at Anderlecht.[38] Lukaku was the subject of an acclaimed television documentary series called De School Van Lukaku (Lukaku's School) shown on the Dutch-speaking Eén network. The reality show followed the teenage Lukaku and his classmates during the course of a year at the Saint-Guidon Institute, a school in Brussels, where the footballer was based while with the Anderlecht youth team.[40] In 2009, the series followed the school as it made a field trip to London visiting Chelsea's Stamford Bridge ground. Lukaku said at the time “What a stadium. If one day in my life I will cry, it will be the day I play here. I love Chelsea.”[41]
Lukaku has always focused on his education, encouraged to do so by his parents, and did not want to transfer to Chelsea before he had his degrees at school. He speaks French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and English and understands German and is able to speak a little bit as well. Lukaku has stated that his childhood hero and biggest idol was Didier Drogba
