Romelu Lukaku has generated a lot of excitement over his abilities, and at the young age of 17, has already been compared to Chelsea striker Didier Drogba.
He has been linked with major clubs including Real Madrid, Inter Milan, Juventus and Chelsea, and now Arsenal, Manchester United and Liverpool have been added to the list, but according to some sources, Liverpool are “in the driving seat” to sign the player.
The Belgian striker currently plays at Anderlecht, and finished last season as the Belgian Leagues top scorer – at the age of only 16 years and 10 months. Okay, so the Belgian League isn’t quite the English Premier League, and the quality may not be any where near as high, but you must be pretty special to be scoring goals for fun at such a young age against players much older and experienced than you.
Rumours in the summer of 2010 suggested that his club rejected a bid of £17.5 million for Lukaku, while Chelsea’s Didier Drogba apparenlty spoke to the Belgian striker and tried to persuade him to join Chelsea. Real Madrid admitted their interest as manager Jose Mourinho said:
‘It is true we wanted Romelu, but he has a very clever dad. He wants Romelu to stay at Anderlecht for one more year. I wish all dads were like this.”
While Cristiano Ronaldo was full of praise for the young man:
“He has to make his own choice but I’m sure that he will have a great career.
“At 17 when he is not playing in a major championship, he has managed to make himself known to many people like me. I think that he’s a really fantastic young player.
“I’m curious to see what he will do in the coming months or at the end of the season. But Lukaku is on track; he must continue to work this way.”
Liverpool and the other English clubs certainly have stiff opposition in the competition for the players signature on a contract from top teams from all over the world, but Chelsea seem the team who Lukaku sounds keen to join. On a school trip to Stamford Bridge, he was photographed in a Chelsea shirt and said whilst there:
“I’m very pleased to be here – unfortunately, I didn’t meet Drogba. If ever one day I will cry, it will be when I sign for Chelsea.”
This player is a genuine talent. Standing at over 6 foot and 3 inches and weighing in at over 14 stone, Lukaku is immensely strong for his age – out muscling the opposition regularly in tussles, while his aerial ability is described as “awesome”. He is quick, clever on the ball, intelligent in positioning and has the finishing of an expert. His abilities are vast, while his age is the opposite. It seems too good to be true.
