Romelu Lukaku is examining the masters of his art in an extensive DVD collection. The goalscorers, the creators, the target men.
This is how he spends his afternoons after Everton training, living alone in Manchester, family and friends occasional visitors, while he dedicates his energy toward his principal objective in life: learning to be one of the most feared strikers in Europe. His year on loan at Goodison Park is a stepping stone towards emulating the idols he now wants to make peers.
“I want to make defenders scared of me,” he says. “I study them all. Van Persie has the best movement. He always finds a yard of space for himself. I love Rooney’s all-round game, a great No 10, Jermain Defoe’s finishing and then Drogba’s hold-up play, which is still unmatched.
"Then there was Thierry Henry. He had complete authority on the pitch. When they saw him defenders said ‘oh no’. Drogba had that as well, but Henry had a presence that meant the opposition defence was already killed before the game started, and yet off the pitch he was humble. I want to be the same.
“There was a changing point for me while I was at Chelsea. We lost in the League Cup in 2012 and I knew I would not play again all season. I was training with the reserves and I thought: ‘Do you know what, next year I am going to make defenders afraid.’
“I was already tough, but I had to have more self-confidence. I knew the only way to get that was by playing and scoring goals. That’s why I went to West Brom [on loan] last season. Steve Clarke changed my life, showing me how the game works. Without him I could not have gone to the next level. That was why I had to leave Chelsea.”
Part of a generation of Belgian players who justify the label ‘golden’, watching and speaking to Lukaku is rather like being charmed by the most fearsome gladiator: his formidable frame hosts a subtle touch.
Brutality is packaged with elegance on the pitch and he is no bully off it. Lukaku is multilingual (he speaks six languages), well-educated and softly spoken. If he were a writer, you could imagine him penning a hatchet job with a quill. But whether watching him terrorise defenders or chatting, an obligatory question will shadow every minute he excels at Everton.
It is a query that may prompt Jose Mourinho to do an early runner from his next press conference.
“So Rom, can you explain why you aren’t you playing up front for Chelsea?”
Lukaku pauses. “Look, let me be honest about this,” he says. “I did not know if I would be playing for Chelsea so I asked the manager to let me leave. We spoke and I told him.
“It’s unfair to criticise Mourinho for letting me go because it was my decision. He knows what he is doing. He has won so many titles and I have too much respect for him to wish anything but the best, but there comes a point where you must think about yourself to show everyone that you can shine and be one of the best strikers in the league.
"I could have stayed and fought, but it was not about the competition. When you are a 20-year-old you need minutes. I lost my place in the national team because I did not play for a year with Chelsea.
"I want that position back. I want to be in a top team and play. You only get better if you play so the best thing was to leave.
“He’d called me into his office 10 days before the end of the window. I did not want to tell him what I wanted to do at that point, but he was very open and direct. I always wanted to work under him and even the time in pre-season he taught me lots I’m grateful for but I had to make a choice.”
There are not many footballers with the courage to eyeball Mourinho and tell him he wants out, but as Newcastle’s defenders would testify, few win a dispute with Lukaku when he is in the mood.
With the 20-year-old and a teenager in the Everton attack, Roberto Martínez believes we may be witnessing the beginning of the Premier League’s most lethal strike partnership.
Among the DVDs of Lukaku’s footballing idols, there is another that has pride of place – a recording of Belgium’s Bierbeek Tournament of 2006, an under-13 fixture between Lierse and Everton. The Belgian side win 2-1, Lukaku creating both goals, but the two outstanding players were destined to meet again.
“That’s why I know Ross Barkley already,” says Lukaku. “He was in the Everton side that day and was already very good. On my first day training with him I said ‘do you remember that tournament?’ He was like ‘no way, that was you?’ I’ve told him I will give him a copy of the DVD I’ve kept.
“This is why we’re getting on so well. There were a lot of players who went on from that generation who played in that tournament and I’ve followed their career. As soon as Ross broke through I remembered him. That tournament meant a lot to me because I was the top scorer. I went on to score 76 goals in 34 games and moved to Anderlecht after that.
“Good players will gel, but when I saw him in training I said to him, ‘What would you like from me on the pitch? How do you want me to play to help you?’
"He spoke to me, talking about us playing one-twos, looking for each other's run and helping each other as much as we can. I just said, ‘OK, cool, that’s what we’re going to do’. He knows my game, I know his. He is the future diamond of this club and England.”
The result was instant and destructive against Newcastle, Lukaku scoring two and creating another for Barkley in an exhibition of forward play.
On Saturday, it is Manchester City in the duo’s sights.
“After the Newcastle game I read the press reviews the day after. I closed the paper and thought, that is over and now I want to see how Manchester City set themselves up. You can’t live off the last game, but must always think about what is next.
“You can watch videos of yourself on the internet, but you are already looking at the past. You have to think what you can do better.
“When I’m on the pitch I will always ask for the ball and always move. If there is space, I will go. If there is none, give it to my feet. If you want to put it in the air, I will jump. I’m still working on it, I’m 20, but I still want to see a massive improvement in myself. I want to be quicker, sharper, more powerful in the air and to improve my shooting technique.
"I always want to be the last off the training pitch, and this sometimes stresses the manager out. But I saw this attitude of the best players at Chelsea. Talent will never shine without hard work.
“I agree 100 per cent with Mourinho when he says I am not like Drogba. It’s my name on the shirt and my number on the back. I want to be myself.
“If I keep performing as I am, people will analyse the statistics and will see a difference between myself and Drogba. There has never been a better target man than him but I want to be an all-rounder.
“So I don’t want to have my qualities compared to Drogba even though he is someone I will always see as a help to me. As a friend he wants to give me the best advice and I think he knows it’s right for me to go where I can play.”
Everton will appreciate Lukaku while they can, recognising the queue forming to take him next summer. Establishing himself in the Belgium side (he has generally been a substitute in the World Cup qualifiers) is another goal.
There was a time being recognised as the number one striker for the team he supported, Chelsea, was the ambition. The longer he spent at Stamford Bridge, and the more success he has enjoyed away, has made him more flexible.
“Chelsea were following me for three years, so I always knew I would sign for them when I left Anderlecht,” he said. “But when you play for a team you supported it is different. You have to change and stop having a fan attitude. A lot of players say playing for the team you supported as a kid can never be as good as you think.
“It felt like that for me at Chelsea, especially the first year. I moved on. You can go to other big clubs in England. When I played at Anderlecht I was also a fan, but as a player you’re just a player.
“What’s most important to me now is the present, not the future.
“I’m thinking about today, tomorrow and the day after, not a few months or a year. That’s why I don’t want to think about what will happen at the end of this season, where I will go.
"Just let me play, let me improve and let me do everything I can to help Everton. I knew after a week here I was in the right place. Later? There is World Cup this summer. After that we will see.”
With that, the Belgian departs to take another look at those striking videos. Somewhere else in Manchester, Manuel Pellegrini will be asking his defenders to study DVDs of Lukaku.
