For a long time, Romelu Lukaku struggled to gain the respect he deserved from the Belgian crowds and media.
The now Inter striker, who has spent time at Chelsea, Manchester United and Everton among others, was even booed at one point by his own fans despite being the all time leading goalscorer for his country at the age of 27.
With 53 goals in 86 caps, the striker has finally managed to change everyone’s mind, but there was a feeling he was wildly ‘unappreciated’ for a while, which the player talks about in an interview with RTBF on Wednesday.
Asked about this label he struggled to shake for so long, he said: “This image was created when I left for Chelsea. When I arrived over there and I failed, I had to show myself to prove myself, but it wasn’t working in the national team.
“I wanted to be at the my best, but I wasn’t. I was so focused on what I had to do on the pitch that I didn’t care about what people were saying about me. I had to overcome these critics at one point. After the Euros, I told myself I had to stop because I was killing myself for nothing. There’s no point it trying to defend myself”.
In the end, Lukaku came to the conclusion that he would simply focus on his game, and he’ll take stock in the end of whether he was ‘as bad as people said’.
Currently, however, he feels he’s ‘in the heart of Belgians’, and certainly has managed to place himself in those of Inter fans, who have benefitted greatly from his arrival last summer.
A lot will still be said about his decision to leave Anderlecht at such a young age to try his luck with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, but it’s a gamble that definitely paid off in the end.
