Some may find fault with Romelu Lukaku, but coach Roberto Martinez is full of praise for the best goal scorer in the glorious history of Belgium’s Red Devils, with his 30 goals in 65 matches, plus a triple against Luxembourg ruled out by FIFA. Strong in technique, fast and powerful, Lukaku “is already one of the most complete No.9s in the world of football,” Martinez said admiringly in an episode of the ‘Walk Talk Football’ programme published on Friday evening on YouTube. “He’s still only 25 so I’m sure that he’s going to carry on developing because his mentality is to try to become as good as he can,” the Red Devils coach added.
The former Anderlecht player was not yet 21 when he joined Everton from Chelsea via West Bromwich Albion, in 2013.
"I was his trainer at the time,” Martinez said, recalling that the club, which first had Lukaku on loan, went all out to acquire him in what was then the biggest purchase in its history. Everton agreed to such an unusually huge sum – 35 million euros - because it had seen his “outstanding quality” of scoring goals. While he was not yet “the finished article”, he was already piling on the goals as he still does today at Manchester United, Martinez said.
Romelu Lukaku has scored 27 goals in 50 matches in all competitions this season. He has found the back of the net on 179 occasions in the 376 matches he has played for his various clubs since 2009.
The Brussels Times
