Belgian professional footballer, Romelu Lukaku currently plays as a striker for Belgium national team and Manchester United. The 24 years old footballer has played for many clubs including Rupel Boom, KFC Wintam, Lierse, Anderlecht, Chelsea, and Everton etc.
Romelu Lukaku was born on May 13, 1993, in Antwerp, Belgium as Romelu Menama Lukaku Bolingoli. He was born to his father, Roger Lukaku, Belgian-Congolese footballer and mother, Adolphine Lukakau, and grew up with his sibling, Jordan Lukaku, footballer.
His brother currently plays as a left back for the Italian club, Lazio. He has a cousin, Boli Bolingoli Mbombo who currently plays for Club Brugge. Lukaku belongs to African ethnicity and holds a Belgian nationality.
Also Read: What Did Romelu Lukaku say to the camera after scoring Brace in 2018 World Cup
At the age of 5, Romelu Lukaku began his career joining Rupel Boom in 1999. Later, he left the club after four years. He then played a year for KFC Wintam. He played with Lierse from 2004 to 2006. He then moved to Anderlecht in 2006. He scored 131 goals in 93 matches for his youth team.
Romelu Lukaku started playing in a senior team of Anderlecht in 2009 after promotion. He signed his first professional contract with the team in May 2009. He made his Belgian First Division debut on May 24, 2009, against Standard Liege replacing Victor Bernardez, after eleven days of his contract.
Lukaku was named the first choice of Anderlecht’s during the 2009-10 season. He is the member of the team that won Belgian Pro League (2009-10). He spent four seasons with the club. For the team, he has scored 33 goals in 73 appearances.
Romelu Lukaku then signed a five-year contract with Chelsea with the transfer fee €15.00 million in 2011. He was given the number 18 shirt and made his home debut against Norwich City replacing for Fernando Torres. He has been honored with FA Cup (2011-12) along with his club.
Lukaku made only 10 appearances with the club in his first season. He was sent loan on to West Bromwich Albion for 2012-13 Premier League season. He scored 17 goals in 35 matches before ending his loan deal with the team.
Later, Lukaku was loaned to Everton with the loan fee €3.50 million and made his debut scoring the winning goal in a 3-2 victory against West Ham United in September 2013.
After completing his loan deal with the Everton, Lukaku was permanently signed by the team in 2014 in a five-year deal with the transfer fee of €35.36 million and was assigned the number 10 t-shirt.
Lukaku scored his first goal on September 13, against his ex-club, West Brom. Later, he left the club after scoring 53 goals in 110 games until 2017.
Read More: Romelu Lukaku- things to Say about his Difficult Childhood and Journey to World Cup
Lukaku then signed a five year deal with the Manchester United with the transfer fee of €84.70 million, making him one of the top 10 players behind players like Neymar, Bale, Ronaldo, Pogba, with highest paid transfer fee. His first match and goal came against Real Madrid on August 8, in the 2017 UEFA Super Cup. So, far he has scored 10 goals in 21 appearances.
As a football star, Lukaku has been honored with Belgian Sportsman Promising Talent of the Year (2009), Belgian Pro League top scorer (2009-10), Belgian Ebony Shoe (2011), Premier League Player of the Month (March 2017), UEFA Europa League Top Goalscorer (2014-15), Premier League PFA Team of the Year (2016-17), Everton Players’ Player of the Season (2016-17), Everton Player of the Season (2016-2017), Everton Young Player of the Season (2015-16), Everton Goal of the season (2015-16) etc.
Lukaku has represented his national team in Belgium U-15, U-18 as well as U-21. He has played 4 matches for U-15 and 1 for U-18 and 5 for U-21.
In 2010, Lukaku was named for the first time in the Belgium senior team for a friendly match against Croatia. As of now, he has earned 65 caps, scoring 31 goals for his national squad.
Romelu Lukaku officially revealed that his childhood hero and biggest idol was Didier Drogba. His star sign is Taurus. Lukaku loves to play FIFA 2013 and listening music, old Hip Hop and RnB including Snoop Dogg, 2 Pac, 50 cent and many others.
Lukaku likes documentaries about Rap and Football. He is a good friend of Paul Pogba and often shared pictures with him via Instagram.
Lukaku is in a relationship with his long-term girlfriend, Julia Vandenweghe. The couple got engaged in 2013 after dating for a couple of years. Currently, the duo is enjoying their beautiful relationship and often seen in public places.
His fiance worked as a Leisure, Travel & Tourism Professional Belgium as well as served in customer service at Costa Crociere. Besides, Lukaku is reportedly dating Sarah Mens. He is busy on Instagram with 2.3m followers and 1.2m followers on his Twitter account. He is Christian by his religion.
Romelu Lukaku receives £200,000 as a weekly salary from his current club and has an estimated net worth of $20 million as of 2017. His annual salary is 4.68 million GBP. Currently, he lives in a house in Wemmwl, Belgium along with his family.
Romelu Lukaku's main source of income is his football career. Moreover, he also receives a good sum of money through his endorsements and sponsorships of Kinder Bueno, Nike, and Chang.
Lukaku is sponsored by Adidas for his Adidas X 17.1 boots. His current market value is estimated at € 70.00 million. He has a black Bentley Continental GT Speed which is worth $240,000.
Read More: FIFA World Cup 2022 Croatia vs Belgium Final Score 0-0: Belgium Eliminated
