Romelu Lukaku hasn’t always been the workhorse Antonio Conte enjoys working with at Inter, one of his former fitness coaches has revealed.
Lukaku spent four seasons playing for Everton in the Premier League, where he established himself as one of Europe’s most prolific strikers before joining Manchester United.
Jan Kluitenberg, who worked as Ronald Koeman’s fitness coach with the Toffees, recalled the challenges he faced in working with Lukaku during the Belgian’s earlier years.
“Romelu wasn’t a fan of training, if I have to be honest,” Kluitenberg told the Liverpool Echo on Thursday.
“He was a little bit lazy.
“My challenge is always to make it clear in my mind what the players need.
“In the case of Romelu, I said to Ronald: ‘Let’s sit with him and make it clear for him’ because he has speed, he’s powerful, he’s really a good athlete, but in some details it is not always about being stronger or faster.
“You need to create a skeleton to make sure you are not injured.
“We know he was really fast but in England you have two or three defenders on your neck so we worked on his turning, that speed over the first metre.
“So for him, it was not really the gym work but on the pitch, how he can move, some agility work, those kind of details.
“I remember we played away to Manchester City and he got the ball at the halfway line, came in from the left and scored to make it 1-0.
“In his case, he is a lucky boy: he’s fast, he’s very strong but with the ball we invested some time in him.
“I have to say, it was amazing working with him.
“But sometimes, like Virgil van Dijk, you have to take them by the shirt and tell them as a player in your position, don’t think you are there, because everyday you need to be working.”
Lukaku scored 87 goals in 166 appearances in all competitions for Everton before moving to Manchester United, where he spent two seasons playing under Jose Mourinho and then Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The 27-year-old has since become one of the greatest strikers in world football with Inter in Serie A, scoring another 25 goals so far this season.
Lukaku is expected to lead Conte’s side into battle again tomorrow when Inter visit Bologna on matchday 29.
