Get to know our new signing, Romelu Lukaku!

Background

Born into a Congolese family, Romelu’s father emigrated to Belgium in search of a better life. Romelu Lukaku Bolingoli was born in Antwerp on 13 May 1993.
 He started taking his first steps into the football world at the age of five when he joined local club Koninklijke Rupel Boom FC. Spells at KFC Wintam and Lierse followed before he made the switch to the Anderlecht academy in 2006.

Career

Lukaku’s senior Anderlecht debut came in 2009, with a move to English side Chelsea materialising just two years later in 2011. He remained a Premier League player until 2019, playing for the likes of West Bromwich Albion, Everton and Manchester United.

In 2019, Lukaku moved to Inter for two seasons before returning to Chelsea in 2021. He once again signed for the Nerazzurri in 2022, with his current record at club level showing 280 goals in 589 appearances.

When Rom shut everyone up

Jean Kindermans was the head of the Anderlecht academy and Ariel Jacobs was the coach. Everyone thought they were both mad when it came out that they wanted to hand a 16-year-old his first-team debut.

A young and fearless Lukaku stormed to the golden boot with 15 goals in 25 appearances, providing five assists along the way as Anderlecht clinched league glory and nobody uttered another word about the matter.

The importance of studying

Having reached the first team, there was a risk that Romelu felt as if he had hit the big time. He was not doing particularly well at school and while it is never easy to combine training with school commitments, something had to give. One day, he watched on from the bench as an Anderlecht team-mate suffered a serious injury and broke his leg.

At the end of the game, the coach called a young Lukaku over and said, “Did you see what can happen in football? You have to finish school”. Romelu took heed of the paternal advice from his coach and promptly finished his studies.

First goal in Italy

On 10 February 2009 at the age of 15 years and nine months, Lukaku found the net on Italian soil for the first time in a Torneo di Viareggio tie held in Cogoleto for Anderlecht, who were coached by former Udinese midfielder Johan Walem at the time.

The goal came in a 2-2 stalemate against Genoa, who had a certain 16-year-old by the name of Stephan El Shaarawy in their ranks.

 Lukaku’s thoughts

“I envy CR7’s dribbling and shooting ability, while I think he might be jealous of my strength and aim.”

“I need competition. If someone says this one or that one are better than me, I’ll train harder.”

“If your ambition isn’t to be the best, there will always be someone who comes along and takes your place.”

“People often say, ‘Rom doesn’t play with passion’. I do play with passion, just I don’t show it that much because in my head I’m purely thinking about how to win the game.”

Rom on Mourinho

"My relationship with him is cool. He makes me laugh, he makes the players laugh, he's a real family guy. He fights for his players, but he's real. When you're not happy, you don't need to fake your emotions.

"People need to appreciate that, at least there are people who are real in this world like him. Because most of the managers in the league, when they are not happy, they try to find a way to seem happy.

"You should respect that he wants to keep his own personality and not shy away from confrontation. Here, he really wants us to improve. He is a normal guy, we get along well. He is cool with everybody".

Numbers under JM

Lukaku played under Jose Mourinho in the Premier League at two different points, first with Chelsea (2013-14) and subsequently with Manchester United (2017-18).
Under the Portuguese coach, the Belgian striker has made 76 appearances, bagging 33 goals and providing ten assists. Mourinho is behind Roberto Martinez, Ariel Jacobs and Antonio Conte in terms of games played by Lukaku under specific coaches.

Trophies

Romelu’s personal haul includes six trophies to date, with three different clubs in as many countries.

One Belgian league title (Anderlecht, 2009-10), one FA Cup (Chelsea, 2012), one Serie A title (Inter, 2020-21), one Club World Cup (Chelsea, 2022), one Italian Super Cup (Inter, 2023), one Coppa Italia (Inter, 2022-23)

Fourth Belgium-born Roma player

Following in the footsteps of Radja Nainggolan (who joined the club in 2014), Thomas Vermaelen (2016) and Mile Svilar (2022), Romelu becomes the fourth player born in Belgium to play for the club.

Just like Nainggolan and Svilar, Lukaku is from Antwerp, while Vermaelen hails from Kapellen.

Social media

You can follow Romelu on Instagram and Facebook.

With 8.9 million followers on Instagram, the Belgian ranks third in the 2023-24 in terms of the biggest numbers on social media. Paulo Dybala (57.3 million) and Leandro Paredes (10.1 million) currently sit ahead of him.