ROMELU LUKAKU (£5.5m) is a captivating character.
Laughable at his worst but unplayable at his best, the Belgium target man is the perfect subject for the next edition in our EURO STAR series – previously featuring Cristiano Ronaldo, Jamal Musiala and Antoine Griezmann – that seeks to thoroughly examine players of note in relation to Dream Team’s Euros fantasy game.
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At the time of writing, Lukaku features in 12.3% of teams created, which puts him just outside the top 20 most-popular players in the game.
Many Dream Team bosses won’t be able to look past the more farcical spells of the 31-year-old’s career – he appeared overweight and disinterested at the back end of his Manchester United tenure and his second spell at Chelsea has proved to be bitterly underwhelming.
But it would be a mistake to underestimate what he’s capable of when everything clicks.
During qualifying for Euro 2024, Lukaku scored 14 goals in eight appearances – a record tally for a European Championship qualifying campaign.
Granted he eight of those goals came from 240 minutes of action against Estonia and Azerbaijan but a hat-trick away to Sweden and strikes in each fixture against fellow qualifiers Austria proved he was no flat-track bully.
Truth be told, a genuine flat-track bully would be licking their lips looking at Belgium’s group stage opponents this summer.
The Red Devils will take on Slovakia, Romania and Ukraine and while those sides made it to Germany on merit, there can be little doubt Group E pales in comparison quality-wise to Group B (Spain, Italy, Croatia, Albania).
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Simply put, Lukaku could feast during the group stage if he picks up where he left off at international level – gaffers may remember he provided an impressive assist during a friendly against England in March.
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More broadly, his overall record for Belgium is truly immense.
He’s scored 83 goals in 114 caps at senior level at a better strike than Neymar, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Only seven players have scored more goals in the entire history of men’s international football and Lukaku needs just three more to jump up two more places.
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He was limited to just 54 minutes at the 2022 World Cup, during which time he squandered two gilt-edged chances, but he scored four goals in five outings at Euro 2020.
Dream Team managers would understandably be hesitant to back Lukaku if he had endured a torrid domestic season but he returned 21 goals in all competitions on loan at Roma in 2023/24.
And let’s not forget that Belgium’s first-choice striker has the luxury of being served by Kevin De Bruyne (£7m), arguably the best playmaker of his generation.
Lukaku has occasionally been a figure of fun but he ticks a lot of boxes in the world of Dream Team Euros.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
