Lukaku: People forget I’m 21 but I love scoring goals for Everton
Evertons record signing Romelu Lukaku has said that because he has been around the game for a long time, people forget the fact that he is still only 21 and sometimes they don’t realise he is still learning the game.
The big Belgian striker has been scoring goals for years and is generally seen as a completed player, but the he still feels he is a work in progress and watches over 10 matches per week to try and learn and improve his game.
“It all started in school,” he said. “When you’re five in Belgium, you’re in the kindergarten, but they let me go with the older boys from the primary school.
“The rule was the sixth grade – the oldest boys – against everyone else. They were these big, massive games and I used to score all the time.
“My mum noticed this when she came to pick me up and one day my dad came as well. They just stood there for 10 minutes watching me scoring all the goals and I’m not sure they could believe it. When the game was over my dad said, ‘Do you want play football next year?’ and I said ‘Yeah.’”
“Scoring goals has always been natural to me,” said Lukaku. “Football is my passion and I always play the game to win and score goals because that is what I love.”
“Sometimes I think people forget I’m still 21,” said Lukaku, speaking at an EA SPORTS FIFA 15 event. “They think I’m 25 or 26 because I’ve been around for a few seasons now.
“Sometimes, I look at Ross [Barkley] and think ‘We’re both young, but people don’t realise that’. I’m still 21, sometimes mistakes happen – things happen because you don’t have the right experience. If I keep improving like this, then when I’m 25 or 26, that’s when there will be no excuses.”
“I watch a lot of games and in a week I can watch 10 games, easy,” he said. “In Belgium, you grow up watching all the leagues – Germany, France, Spain, Italy, England – and I watch them all. I remember watching Bayern Munich v Man City last year and Muller was always running in behind, running in behind. He never got the ball four times. But the fifth time he did it – goal.
“I tried that in a game and the third time I did, I got it and scored.”
Lukaku has been in awe of fellow striker Samuel Eto’o and the legendary striker has been giving him invaluable tips (as well as wanting to beat him all the time) and the big Belgian is soaking up the info like a sponge.
“I’m picking up lots from him and he has a tremendous football knowledge,” he said. “He doesn’t give me a yard. When I go to do finishing, he follows me across and says ‘It’s you against me again’.
“He hates to lose and I hate to lose so when we are on the same team in the small-sided games, we never lose.”
Lukaku lives to score goals and each season he sets himself a target. The good news for Evertonians is that he has never failed to attain it.
“I have a goals target, which I keep to myself,” he said before adding with a grin: “And I always achieve it. Always.”
How many will Lukaku score this season? Comment below or have your say on our dedicated Everton Forum at www.theevertonforum.co.uk/forum