Romelu Lukaku just took in 15 goalless appearances for Chelsea during his first spell after returning to Stamford Bridge. But the Belgium international claims that “painful and helpful” experience helped to turn him into “the complete package”. After his second debut following one of the summer’s biggest football transfers, Lukaku’s 15 goalless Chelsea games have helped him, ironically, during and after his initial, first debut with the Blues.
The 28-year-old striker returned to west London during the summer transfer window, moving back to Chelsea from Inter Milan.
Romelu Lukaku thus made his Blues’ comeback 10 years after Chelsea first snapped him up as a highly-rated teenager.
However, even as he returned to Stamford Bridge, he failed to make the expected impact with the Premier League heavyweights. That is, when he first started out with them, as a mere teenager.
But, instead of being low, Lukaku has learnt important lessons from a testing start to life in Premier League.
And indeed, he is back a decade later as one of the most fearsome and prolific goalscorers on the planet.
Lukaku’s 15 Goalless Chelsea Games Have Helped Him
Romelu Lukaku has talked Chelsea’s official website, for their football news, of his first stint with the club.
This stint saw him acquired in 2011 before being loaned out to West Brom and Everton.
And Lukaku reminisced about it: “It was painful and helpful, but I would say more helpful because it gave me the mentality and the mindset that I needed to become the player I am today.
“The team was very good but nobody saw the extra work they did after the training sessions. As an 18-year-old, I saw first-hand every day how much the players worked on their craft.
“That’s when I knew that was what you had to do to become this type of player. I told myself ‘when I’m not playing, this is what I’m going to do’, and it basically just became a lifestyle.”
