zenduck.me: Romelu Lukaku Profile PlanetSport

Lukaku is Belgium’s all-time leading goalscorer and one of the most expensive strikers in the world. His £97.5million transfer to Chelsea in 2021 was a club record, but he failed to live up to expectations and was loaned back to Inter Milan.

Before returning to Inter Milan, his second spell at the club, the well-travelled Lukaku also played for Anderlecht, West Bromwich Albion, Everton and Manchester United.

Lukaku reportedly earned the nickname ‘Rocky’ while at Manchester United due to his commitment in training. He is a powerful striker and among the most prolific goalscorers in world soccer.

Lukaku joined Chelsea from Anderlecht in August 2011. The Blues were his boyhood club and he played alongside his hero Didier Drogba.

However, the young Lukaku did not enjoy a prolific first season at Stamford Bridge. He made only 12 appearances in all competitions and failed to score a competitive goal.

In 2012/13, Lukaku was sent on loan to West Bromwich Albion. He enjoyed a breakthrough season with the Baggies as he scored 17 goals in 35 Premier League appearances, including a hat-trick against Manchester United in Sir Alex Ferguson’s final game in charge of the Red Devils – which ended in a 5-5 draw.

Lukaku was handed a chance by the newly reappointed Chelsea manager Mourinho at the start of the 2013/14 season, but the young striker failed to convert a crucial penalty for the Blues in their penalty shootout defeat to Bayern Munich in the UEFA Super Cup. Lukaku was subsequently sent out on loan to Everton.

The loan spell with the Toffees was another success as Lukaku scored 15 goals in 31 Premier League matches.

He joined Everton permanently for a club record £28million in 2014, as Chelsea signed Diego Costa ahead of the new season rather than recall Lukaku.

He was a success at Goodison Park, scoring a total of 87 goals in 166 games and he was also named in the 2016/17 PFA Team of the Year.

Lukaku joined Manchester United from Everton for a reported £75million plus £15million in add-ons in July 2017. Reportedly Lukaku’s former club, Chelsea, made a bid for the striker, but he chose Old Trafford over a return to Stamford Bridge.

Lukaku’s move to United came despite being managed by Jose Mourinho, who had allowed the striker to leave Chelsea for Everton during his second stint at Stamford Bridge.

In his first season at Manchester United, Lukaku scored 27 goals in 51 games in all competitions. This included 16 goals in 34 Premier League matches during a season which saw the Red Devils finish second to Manchester City.

After a poor start to 2018/19, Mourinho was sacked in December and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer became the new Manchester United manager. Lukaku did not flourish under Solskjaer and was sold to Inter Milan at the end of the season.

Lukaku revealed in an interview with Arsenal legend Ian Wright that he had lost the energy to play for Manchester United and realised he needed to move on to revive his career.

Lukaku joined Inter Milan in August 2019 for €80million, breaking the club’s transfer record. Lukaku struck up a solid partnership with Lautaro Martinez during the 2019/20 season as Inter challenged for the Serie A title.

Ultimately, Antonio Conte’s Inter were unable to topple Juventus, finishing second. Inter also lost the UEFA Europa League final 3-2 to Sevilla. Lukaku had an impact at both ends of the pitch scoring a penalty but also suffering the misfortune of netting an own goal which sealed victory for Sevilla.

Lukaku ended the season with 34 goals in 51 games in all competitions.

Lukaku’s fine performances in Serie A continued, and in January 2021 he broke an Inter Milan goalscoring record previously set by Brazilian legend Ronaldo. In a 6-2 win over Crotone, he scored his 50th goal for the club in just 70 matches, getting there in seven fewer games than Ronaldo achieved.

He finished the 2020/21 season with 24 league goals and 11 assists as Inter Milan won the Scudetto.

On August 12, 2021, Chelsea re-signed Lukaku from Inter Milan in a £97.5million five-year deal. He had left the Blues to join Everton in 2014, costing the Toffees £28million.

The move meant that more money has been spent on Lukaku than on any other player, having drawn combined transfer fees of £290million.

In his first game back in the Premier League, Lukaku scored in the 2-0 win over Arsenal but then struggled to hit the heights of his previous season at Inter Milan.

He scored just eight Premier League goals in 26 appearances, which wasn’t helped by a public falling out with Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel.

In June 2022, Inter Milan secured the services of the 29-year-old Lukaku on a season-long loan, which included a loan fee believed to be around £6.9m.

Lukaku broke into the Belgian national team during their golden era, playing alongside the likes of Eden Hazard, Kevin De Bruyne, Vincent Kompany and Thibaut Courtois, in a team which has consistently led the FIFA World Rankings.

Since making his senior debut in 2010, Lukaku has collected 89 caps and scored 57 goals.

He represented Belgium in the 2014 World Cup, where they reached the quarter-finals, and 2018 tournament in Russia, where they finished third.

At the 2018 World Cup, Lukaku was joint-second on the top scorers’ chart, finishing with four goals – two behind Golden Boot winner Harry Kane.

Belgium were eliminated from the 2018/19 UEFA Nations League finishing behind Switzerland in Group A2. However, in the next edition of the tournament, they qualified for the finals largely thanks to Lukaku’s good form.

Lukaku has scored an impressive nine goals in seven Nations League matches since the competition’s inception.

He was once again a key part of the Belgium team for Euro 2020, and he scored four goals in four games before being named in the official UEFA team of the tournament.

Lukaku is a teetotal Roman Catholic who can speak English, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, German and a Congolese Swahili dialect.

The striker has spoken of the racism he suffered as a child coming through the Belgian football ranks.

Lukaku’s father, Roger, played for the Zaire [Democratic Republic of the Congo] national team. His brother, Jordan Lukaku, who made his name as a left-back for Lazio, is currently on loan at Belgian club Antwerp.

Lukaku’s Chelsea salary reportedly earns him £15.6m per year, just over £300,000 a week. His total net worth is believed to be around $20m.

Lukaku wore the Nike Mercurial Vapor 14 Elite at Chelsea in the 2021/22 season.

In 2018, he signed a record sponsorship deal with Puma, but this relationship only lasted two years and he switched to Nike.

Lukaku was the first Premier League player to join Jay-Z’s management agency Roc Nation.