Romelu Lukaku: The New Drogba or the next Sinama Pongolle

Chelsea and Arsenal transfer target Romelu Lukaku has been attracting a lot of attention recently as many fans are largely unaware of his ability seeing as he plays in the Belgian League with Anderlecht. There is certainly a lot of hype surrounding his potential as a football player with many claiming that he is a younger version of Didier Drogba but as we all know with youth players, many of them do not acheive their potential. Take Florent Sinama Pongolle for instance, he top scored at the 2001 under 17 world championship and won player of the tournament and then moved to Liverpool where for a long time rival fans could gleefully refer to him as one-goal Pongolle. Lukaku could go either way but to make a judgement we need to see some facts.

 The big Belgian's goal record for the youth teams he played in is undeniably outstanding. Between the ages of 11 and 13 he played for Lierse SK who were in the Belgian Pro League at the time and managed to bag an impressive 121 goals in 68 games. Once Lierse SK were relegated in 2006 he was signed for Anderlecht and in the next 3 years scored 131 goals in 93 games for the youth teams. These figures are undoubtedly excellent but it is the goals record at senior level that is more important. Lukaku broke into the Anderlecht first team at the tender age of just 16 and played a total of 33 league games bagging 15 goals and consequently being awarded the personal accolade of Belgian Pro League top scorer. Now, I know that the Belgian league might not be the highest quality league in the world but that is undeniably impressive for a 16 year old playing his first season is senior football. Last season Lukaku was awarded the Belgian Ebony Shoe for the best African player (or player of African origin) in the league.

The stats and awards cannot lie and Romelu Lukaku has had a glittering career thus far. Who can say whether he will cut it in the Premier League amongst some of the best players in the world but I sincerely hope that we get to find out as the potential for this man is limitless.