Euro 2024: Why it's too soon to write off Belgium hitman Lukaku
Romelu Lukaku has been at his enigmatic best for Belgium at Euro 2024.
The 31-year-old, the record-goalscorer for the Red Devils with 85, has yet to register a goal at the tournament. But despite his woes in front of goal, he’s been a genuine threat for the Red Devils in both of their matches so far.
You could say this has been the story of his career. He’s been a regular goalscorer at every single club he’s been with but he’s regularly ridiculed for the number of chances he misses. In fact, it is the misses rather than the goals that dominate the conversation whenever talk turns to the nomadic forward.
Lukaku has missed the most big chances at the Euros (5) and his Expected Goals underperformance of 1.93 is the worst at the tournament. Only Cristiano Ronaldo (9) has had more shots than the Chelsea forward (8) without scoring. And his missed chances are one of the reasons Belgium head into their final group game against Ukraine on Wednesday needing a win to potentially claim top spot in Group E.
Belgium kicked off their Euro 2024 with a shock loss to Slovakia in a game in which Lukaku had two goals disallowed as well as missing three big chances. They bounced back against Romania, winning 2-0, but the powerhouse forward once again blanked having had a goal ruled out while also spurning two big chances.
Lukaku has been criticised by the media and this has resulted in his international manager, Domenico Tedesco, defending him. The young tactician had this to say after the loss to Slovakia: "He just needs to score one goal [and more will come], and he did in fact, twice, but they were cancelled. We all want him to score six goals from six chances, but that is not realistic, even if he has the quality to do it."
The left-footed forward did react by assisting Youri Tielemans for the opener against Romania and he had a goal ruled out for a narrow offside. It is safe to say the missed chances aren’t having an impact on his confidence. With a bit of luck though, Lukaku could be comfortably the leading scorer at the Euros and the narrative, despite the performances remaining the same, would be completely different. Because goals change not only games but also opinions.
The one-time West Brom attacker knows this better than most. His career has been one of ups and downs. One season, he’s touted as one of the most complete forwards in Europe after a 20-goal haul. The next, people are debating whether he’s got the right attitude after a sub-15 goal season total.
In his final season with Everton, Lukaku scored 25 Premier League goals. It earned him a £75m move to Manchester United. After just two seasons with the Red Devils, he was sold for £65m after scoring just 12 goals in the English top-flight in his final campaign at Old Trafford. His form for Inter, in which he scored 47 goals across two Serie A seasons, saw Chelsea spend £97.5m to bring him back to Stamford Bridge.
He’s scored just 31 league goals across three seasons with Chelsea, Inter and Roma. Lukaku is currently on the market with the Blues looking to bring in £30m for the Belgian forward.
The way people talk about him, you’d be forgiven for not realising he has more Premier League goals than Didier Drogba, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Dimitar Berbatov as well as more Serie A goals than Michel Platini, Victor Osimhen, Ruud Gullit. He’s just three shy of Juventus legend Pavel Nedved and seven behind Adriano and Kaka.
Yes, he misses chances but wherever he goes, he scores goals. And a lot of them. He finished with 20 goals across Serie A and the Europa League last season with Roma from an Expected Goals total of 18.5. He’s a reliable goalscorer and a consistent goal threat. He just lacks some good luck at times but those writing him off are foolish.
