In an interview in today’s paper edition of Gazzetta dello Sport, Belgium national team manager Roberto Martinez has sang the praises of Inter striker Romelu Lukaku.
“He is a unique number 9, who is very strong. I say that it is important for each team to have a striker who can gather all his qualities in one place. Romelu can dribble, carry the ball and above all score goals,” he said.
“Being able to reach more than 100 goals in the Premier League and being the highest scorer for Belgium says it all about him and this is what the Italian fans are starting to appreciate. He is capable of doing many things but always aiming to score goals “.
He was then asked why he thinks Lukaku was underappreciated, particularly near the end of his time in England.
“He knows how to do everything but so many people always went looking to see where he failed. There are strikers who know how to do one thing so nobody asks them to do anything else.
“Romelu’s strength is that he can always do something different but this it is also a disadvantage, because there are games in which some things go wrong. He widens the field and creates for others: if people appreciate these things, even when he does not score, he would be criticised less.”
He then spoke on what he thought Lukaku wants to achieve in Italy with Inter.
“I invite the fans to re-read his story: at 16 he was already scoring goals with Anderlecht, then at Everton he was important, getting used to the physicality of the Premier League. At that point, he was always putting the team in front of himself, he has now matured and is ready to win a title abroad and I think that’s what he wants to do at Inter. When he gets something into his head, he gets it.”
He concluded: “Italian teams have historically physical defenders, Romelu is more used to playing in the Champions League. He has been playing for a long time and I think he will not need to put in as much effort against Dortmund, even if they have several high level players.”
