Romelu Lukaku

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2 more goals and 2 assists at the weekend 14 goals for the season now
 
Well hes been compared to drogba but lets not go overboard and compare him to the one thats putting too much pressure on him
 
Lukaku now has 16 goals this season 13 in the league and 3 in Europa league and is set to make his Belgium debut tonight when he starts against Croatia
 
13 league goals sounds bloody impressive even if it is in a smaller league, so is the Belgian league just a very high scoring league or is this as impressive as it sounds?
 
I think the Belgian League is probably one of the most improved leagues in Europe, along with Russia, it looks like a good return indeed.
 
Brwned said:
13 league goals sounds bloody impressive even if it is in a smaller league, so is the Belgian league just a very high scoring league or is this as impressive as it sounds?
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Well hes the leagues top scorer ahead of Jovanovic who is joining Liverpool in the summer and whats more impressive is the fact hes only actually started 13 gaes and only played 90 minutes a couple of times
 
I've only seen brief highlights of him so far and in those he was mostly scoring fox in the box type goals. As for the league, it didnt look too bad in the couple of matches I watched Liege play. He certainly seems an impressive young talent whether or not he'll be "The new Drogba" as I've seen mentioned multiple times, that remains to be seen.
 
Brwned said:
13 league goals sounds bloody impressive even if it is in a smaller league, so is the Belgian league just a very high scoring league or is this as impressive as it sounds?
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Belgium, contrary to the Dutch league, is actually a very low scoring league. Top scorers rarely go over 20 these days.

Anderlecht really is on fire though, so that definately helps him. But he has been very impressive indeed.
 
I think this lad would be seriously worth buying. He looks like a younger version of Didier Drogba. He already nearly looks as fast, big and strong plus he is banging in the goals. I think he will be class. He reckons he is not leaving Belgium until he is 20 though, apparently.
 
SittingBull said:
fake passport:nervous:
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Improbable. Considering the lad was born in Antwerp, Belgium and not the Congo. His father wants him to remain in Belgium and finish his schooling but in a few years this lad will definitely become one of the hottest properties in Europe. Already on all major clubs radar, and with his size and speed it will be inevitable that clubs will lodge huge bids to get him.
 
Devilton said:
Improbable. Considering the lad was born in Antwerp, Belgium and not the Congo.
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Indeed, there's no way his age is incorrect. He always went to school in Belgium as well and his father was somewhat famous at the time of his birth being a professional footballer himself.
He might look like a 22-year old, but when he talks, you really hear he's only 16.
 
Here is an article about him: Romelu Lukaku: Soccer's next big thing - ESPN Soccernet

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- It's rather a good thing Romelu Lukaku was born in Belgium. Otherwise, soccer's very own birther movement would have inevitably come after him. His birth certificate says Antwerp, a biggish city in Flanders, known for its excellent surgeons and doctors, putting him above suspicion about his real age.

And suspicion there would be. Because he looks, not to mention plays, like a fully grown man, and a carved specimen of one at that.

Watching him out on the field, it's easy to forget that Romelu Lukaku is only 16.

Then again, it's easy to remember that he is just 16.

When you ask his club team, Anderlecht, if you can talk to the striker, for instance, "We couldn't possibly let you," comes the answer. "We're getting 60 interview requests a week, and if we accept yours we'll have to accept everybody else's too. And Romelu is still in school. We try to leave him alone."

Fair enough.

Romelu is a high school junior in southern Brussels, attending an ordinary Belgian state school for kids with no intention of going to college.

Of course, college isn't really necessary if you're soccer's next big thing.

Born on May 13, 1993, Romelu was the first son born to Roger Lukaku, a physically imposing journeyman striker who played more than 50 games for his native Congo (then called Zaire) during a professional career that spanned 10 years in Belgium and Turkey.

Romelu -- whose name is a contraption of the first two letters of each of his father's three names, Roger Menama Lukaku -- was nothing out of the ordinary as a younger child. "He was a nice kid, sometimes a little shy, which he still is," Roger said. Then, like many 6 year olds in Belgium, Romelu joined a soccer team. Suddenly, he was no longer ordinary. "He made the difference, which was plain to see straight away," Roger said. "He already showed signs of promise."


After playing for several smaller clubs, Lukaku went to Anderlecht in 2006. He made one appearance last season, 11 days after his 16th birthday. Now 6-foot-4 and a fraction more than 200 pounds of muscle, with perfect command of both feet, Lukaku wasted little time in announcing his presence this season. He overran Belgium, scoring 12 goals in 22 games for Anderlecht so far in his first full season with the senior team. He dazzled Europe, scoring twice in one of his very first Europa League games, becoming the third-youngest goal scorer ever. He even held his own before the whole world, playing like a seasoned veteran in his international debut for his country's senior side against Croatia on March 3. Like a debutante at the international soccer ball, all eyes were on him, and he did not put a foot wrong, holding his own against the experienced Josip Simunic.

"I think it was a very successful debut. He responded well to all the attention. All that was missing was a little goal," Roger said. "Romelu was satisfied too."

His arrival on the international scene meant Lukaku is no longer under the care of Jean-Francois De Sart, who coaches Belgium's under-21s. His team, the highest class of Belgian prospects, takes a few years to graduate its best players to the senior team. Lukalu had come and gone within two months and just five games, which came on the heels of having skipped the U-17s altogether. "It's thanks to his production that he took off before he'd even unpacked," De Sart said. "We knew he'd be here quickly."

His debut should also put an end to a long argument over who is the crown jewel of an outrageously gifted generation of soccer players emerging from little Belgium, whose population is just less than 11 million. While Moussa Dembélé and Eden Hazard are, as advertised, fabulously talented, Lukaku seems to transcend everything, even talent itself.

Anderlecht, the formerly great club, sure could use the exposure Lukaku could bring. But the team's management doesn't wish to burden its prodigy. And so the interview requests pile up, unattended. Anderlecht probably isn't protecting its investment as much as it is trying not to mess up a player on a road to greatness with no apparent speed limits, exits, stop signs or speed bumps. Mozart wasn't pimped out for a quick buck, either. We've seen mega prospects flame out before. There's nothing sadder.

Not messing him up seems a goal those surrounding Lukaku share. Roger wants his son to stay at Anderlecht until he finishes school, which will roughly coincide with the end of the 2010-11 season. Nice intentions, but soccer's rich and famous are already sniffing around Lukaku, fueling speculation about an imminent departure to greener, and richer, pastures.

"Like any soccer player he wants to go as far as possible," Roger said of his son. "He wants to play at the highest level in the world. But there are steps, everything in its time. We'll keep going like that until we get to our goal."

Describing Lukaku's strengths is rather troublesome. They're hardly describable. There's his preposterous vertical leap that he uses to tower over defenders and get at crosses from a complete standstill and nod it into the nets. Then there's the acceleration and speed that don't seem fair.

The only way putting together a scouting report would be simple is if formulated in the following esoteric terms: Bigger. Stronger. Faster. More skilled. More athletic, too. Simply put: Better.

Better than whom? Better than everyone his age; and, with time, perhaps everyone of all other ages, as well.

"He's a goal scorer," said De Sart, making an attempt to pick out the strongest of attributes. "That's his primary asset. He's savvy before the goal and scores easily. He's exceptional physically and when given a chance, he almost always scores. He has a really good mentality. He always wants to get better, to learn."

Considering the above, one can understand clubs lusting after Lukaku, because from afar he looks like the finished product. His is an effortless kind of grace. The sort that rolls out of bed and deigns to put on his soccer cleats, his ballet flats, before bounding onto the field, his dance floor, weightless. It will make a fan feel lucky that of all the sports Lukaku could have chosen to excel at he chose soccer.

Lukaku isn't done improving though. "There's lots to learn yet," Roger said. "That's why I say we haven't seen all that Romelu has to offer yet. Right now we've seen 50 or 60 percent of his ability. He can do much better."

"His technique has to get better, but that's a logical progression," De Sart said. "You can't ask of a 16-year-old to be complete. You have to get better at every age. He has to get better tactically, too. And his heading needs to improve."

How far he will go nobody knows. Or nobody will dare say, anyway. Saying out loud what Lukaku is capable of would make even the most admired soccer savant look idiotic, after all.

In the meantime, Lukaku often sports his hair like that of his hero, Chelsea and Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba. If all goes well, Romelu Lukaku will one day not only be a household name of his own the world over, but will also be synonymous with a much bigger name, the one his younger brother carries: Jordan.
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The season in Belgium is over with 28 games played, although there's still a lot to play for in the play offs (championship and qualifying for Europe is still to be decided), and Romelu Lukaku is the official topscorer with 15 goals. He's now the youngest ever topscorer in Belgium after breaking a 100 year old record.

Lukaku only started in 15 games and came on as a sub another 10 times. he played a total of 1494 minutes in Leaguegames which means he scored a goal every 99,6 minutes.

He also scored 4 goals in Europe. In the play-offs (which is new in Belgium) he can still add to that 19 goals he has scored for Anderlecht so far, but that won't count for his league amount, because the official topscorer is decided after the 28 regular leaguegames.
 
Lots of noise about this kid. Banging them in.
 
Apparently the photos are from a school trip so he can go back on my muppet list now
 
It's from a school trip indeed. It was reported in the Belgian newspapers somewhere around the end of may, beginning of june.
 
His parents don't allow him a transfer yet by the way. They think he's better off staying at Anderlecht for at least a year or two. And Romelu himself seems to agree with them for now.
 
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