Romelu Lukaku has entered Muhammad Ali territory, but rather than boasting that he is the greatest, the claim is that he can be, when it comes to Premier League strikers. Inevitably, given such grand ambition, it is put to him that Sergio Agüero and Diego Costa are the holders of that title and he is asked if he really believes that he can be better.
A brief pause follows before the emphatic answer arrives. “Yes,” the Everton man says. “Yes.”
If Manchester City were not aware, they know now that tomorrow they will come up against one of the English game’s most confident footballers. Lukaku, 22, is not bragging and he is not overstating his ability. He is being aspirational. Tellingly, he has the insight to explain why his self-belief is so strong.
“Because there are some aspects in my game where I have the potential [to be better than them],” he says. “Because I can see a pass sometimes. If I know the defender’s coming, I can turn from him, dribble past somebody else and then give the last pass. If I add that, and it comes out on a consistent basis, I can add that to my size, power and pace. I have that, but it has to come out. If you want to be one of the best, you have to look at the best. For me at the moment that’s men like Costa and Agüero.
“Costa because he has that combativity. He terrorises defences just with the look in the opponent’s eye. With Agüero, he can run in behind, come to feet, hold the ball, dribble past a few players. That is what I like. You have to look at these players and compare yourself. You have to look at them and think, ‘What do you have that I don’t?’ and add it to your game.”
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Such is Lukaku’s scrutiny of his peers that he has identified the qualities that he does not want to replicate. Costa’s propensity for confrontation is one such trait, which is just as well given the damage that Lukaku, at 6ft 3in and 14st 11lb, could do if he had the Chelsea forward’s mentality.
“Sometimes, he’s on the edge. I’m not on the edge,” he says. “If I get the ball and start running, just get out of the way, because you’ll be on the floor.”
Given that City are Everton’s next opponents, does such positivity, that sense that he has the measure of any adversary, apply to Lukaku’s much- anticipated clash with Vincent Kompany, his captain for Belgium, and Eliaquim Mangala, against whom he played as a teenager in his homeland? Once again, the answer is emphatic and brimming with self-confidence.
“I know Vincent and I know Mangala from years ago, so I know what to do,” he says. “It will be a very good physical battle, but I will try to dominate as much as I can. If I let myself be dominated by Vincent and Mangala, I know I am in for a difficult game, but if I win the physical battles, I know I will have a good game.
“ I know I can do that. I am taller than them, I am bigger than them so I am not scared. I know if we use my pace, I will have a good game.”
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Last Thursday, Roberto Martínez responded to a disappointing home draw with Watford on the opening weekend by holding a team meeting in which he informed his players that they were all fighting for their places. Everton’s resounding 3-0 win away to Southampton 48 hours after the meeting suggested that the message had been taken on board, but Lukaku believes that the seeds for his two-goal performance at St Mary’s were sown earlier: during a summer spent working on a faster, more direct style and in which his fitness was honed.
“When you play at a high tempo constantly, that suits me because I’m a player that likes to be on the move all the time instead of being static and that is what we tried to work on in pre-season,” he said. “I’m happy if we go in that direction because it suits me better. I knew from the Monday that I would have a good game at Southampton. I only missed one week of full training in pre-season, so I knew this year would be good. I wanted that consistency like all the big players have, I wanted to work, work, work.”
Despite scoring 20 goals last season, Lukaku looks back on the campaign as a testing one for personal reasons. His father, Roger, battled illness and his childhood friend, Junior Malanda, the Wolfsburg player, was killed in a road accident. As someone who retains a strong bond with both the family and the community he emerged from, Lukaku makes no attempt to disguise the effect those situations had on him.
“Personally, last year was my most difficult year,” he said. “It’s true for a footballer that if your life is good off the pitch, you can always give that 20 per cent more, but for me at my young age, I discovered there are some things you don’t know how to handle.” It was with a heavy heart that Lukaku returned to Brussels in the summer to play in a tournament featuring friends and fellow footballers in the knowledge that Malanda would not be involved.
Playing in a cage in the inner city, Lukaku’s team made it to the semi- finals only to lose on penalties. “I just took off,” he said. “Normally, everybody stays to watch the final, and I just said, ‘Guys, take all your clothes off, put everything in a bag. I’m off.’ I was hugely disappointed. It’s a good tournament but that was the last time I’ll play in it.”
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It is that competitive spirit that fuels Lukaku as he looks to fulfil his ambition of being the best. “You want to be the best player you can, to win the most titles you can,” he said. “That’s about looking forward. At this moment I just want to fight, to be the best I can be every single day. If you don’t have ambition to be one of the best, someone will always come and take your place.”
Ahead of the game
Romelu Lukaku is one of the most prolific young forwards in world football. At 21, his goalscoring record had surpassed that of some of the most renowned strikers in the game at the same age.
Romelu Lukaku 65
Wayne Rooney 44
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Lionel Messi 57
Michael Owen 55
Alan Shearer 10