Once described as “the most complete young striker”, Romelu Lukaku evolved as one of the most clinical finishers in the world of football. With 24 goals and 11 assists in Serie A this season, Lukaku’s performance was one of the key factors of Inter Milan’s achievement of becoming Italian champions, lifting the Serie A trophy for the first time since 2010.
What makes Lukaku such an incredible goal scorer?
“The Brussels Dynamite” is well known for his phenomenal physical attributes. With 1.93m height and 93kg weight, he uses his body effectively to position himself in front of the goal. He makes use of available space and he has been one of the top finishers in the last several seasons in Europe. His last two seasons in Italian Serie A side Inter Milan have been particularly spectacular, as he established himself as the leader of offense, with 34 goals in all competitions in the season 2019/20, and 30 goals in the season 2020/21.
One vital skill Lukaku possesses is the possibility to play in different formations and playing structures. Over his career, he has proven himself as a quite flexible player, and a player who is able to thrive in various tactical systems. As a part of Inter Milan side, under the leadership of Antonio Conte, Lukaku was superb as a part of 3-5-2 system, as a part of attacking duo and with the support of Lautaro Martinez. He proved himself in the 3-4-1-2 system, being especially useful in exploiting available space up front. Whatever tactical system Lukaku is involved in, he is an essential part of the formation with his role of target-man. No matter if he plays in a more defensive tactical approach, when he played in West Bromwich Albion, or as a part of a more offensive tactical setting of Jose Mourinho Manchester United team, he showed himself as a truly versatile and useful player.
Romelu Lukaku is remarkable when it comes to positioning. He is capable of predicting the movement of defensive players and finding pockets of space inside the penalty box. Lukaku also effectively follows the motion of his teammates, so he can adapt his movement and find the best position to receive the pass. This is above all noticeable when it comes to headers. He not only follows the defender, in order to stay ahead of him, Lukaku’s physical predisposition allows him to change his posture quickly, and take a header.
Lukaku is an intelligent player, competent to make well-timed runs into empty space behind the defensive line, so he can exploit the space available and make use of teammate’s pass. Upon receiving the ball, Lukaku uses his strength and exceptional dribbling ability to his advantage.
Player’s Profile
At age 27, Romelo Lukaku is playing his best football today, with the hope of developing even further. If we look at his statistics compared to the league strikers’ average, we can see what makes him a unique and clinical finisher.
When it comes to his Attacking & Shooting ability, if you compare his expected goals rating with league average, we see that Lukaku 0.72xG index is way above the average value. And, with most of his goals coming from the play, and not from the penalty spot, Lukaku represents an enormous threat to an opponent’s goal, especially if we take into account his high goal conversion rate. With his goal conversion rate, Lukaku scores a goal with every fourth shot. Interesting is the fact that Lukaku’s header goals are quite low compared to other strikers, in spite of his height and physical capabilities. However, his successful dribbles percentage and the number of dribbles are quite high. We notice that his dribbling skill is impressive for the player of his size. His dribbling abilities, together with the good number of touches inside the opponent’s box, make him extremely dangerous in front of the goal. He is capable of holding the ball in his possession, which gives him enough time to find enough space for himself to shoot or to assist his teammates.
If we look at his Passing & Progression, we notice how useful Romelo Lukaku is when it comes to inside the opposing box. Being his role is quite advanced forward, his number of passes per game is pretty low. However, he proved himself as vital for creating chances with his well above average passing accuracy, especially when we consider his efficiency with smart and key passes. If we analyze his movement heatmap, we see that he spends most of his time around the box. His deep role results in playing short passes to his teammates. His involvement in front of the opponent’s goal resulted in 11 assists this season, being the second best assistant of the league.
He is not much involved when it comes to defensive duties. When involved, due to his strength and composure he is capable to win around half of his defensive duels, which is the league striker’s average.
Lukaku vs Traore
Lassina Traoré is a Burkina Faso National team member and a striker playing for Ajax Amsterdam. At 20 years of age, he is considered as the Ajax wonderkid. Lassina demonstrated his talent as a member of Youth Ajax team, when he scored 21 goals in 30 appearances at 18 years of age. These appearances proved he is ready for a chance in the first team, and he did truly justify the given trust. Traore announced himself as Ajax’s new talisman in attack, equaling a 35-year record, for most goals scored in a game. The record held by Marco Van Basten, with five goals scored in a single game. He is also quite a universal player, capable of adapting to many roles. Due to this, he is often considered as a complete forward. He contributes to the building phase of the attack and functions great in a system with two attackers.
The comparison between Lukaku and Traore is given bellow. Several key indicators are shown, and each one of them gives better impression of player’s overall quality and potential:
xG per 90 – Expected Goals. Signifies the quality of a goal scoring chance in 90 minutes.
xA per 90 – Expected Assist. The number of passes that resulted in teammate’s goal scoring chance, per 90 minutes.
Non-penalty goals per 90 – Total number of goals, excluding penalty kicks, per 90 minutes.
Touches in the box per 90 – Number of touches in penalty area per 90 minutes.
Shots per 90 – Number of shots per 90 minutes.
Shots on goal, % – Percentage of shots that go on target.
Goal conversion, % – Percentage of shots resulted in a goal.
Passes to penalty area per 90 – Number of passes to penalty area per 90 minutes.
Offensive duels per 90 – Number of offensive duels per 90 minutes..
Offensive duels won, % – Percentage of successful offensive duels.
If we compare Traore to Lukake, we can notice that Lukaku exceeds Traore in all attributes. However, the gap between them is not that great, considering the experience Lukaku possesses. Inter Milan forward has a deeper role as a target-man, which is one of the reasons he has greater expected goals rate, as well as the number of shots to the opposing goal. However, we must mention that Traore’s expected goals rate and shots number index are also quite high, which indicates that he already has a top-quality positioning in front of the goal. This proves his high goal conversion rate, which is almost the same as Lukaku’s.
Lassina’s number of touches in the box is similar to Lukaku’s. Young Ajax striker’s phenomenal physical shape allows him to win a great amount of his duels in the offense.
Lukaku vs Edouard
Odsonne Edouard is a French footballer and one of the Cetlic prospects. He already showed amazing goal scoring talent, especially for the France U21 national team. His numbers indicate he scores a goal every two games. Edouard is considered as an elegant, multi-functional player, and one of Europe’s deadliest marksmen. He often roams away from his position, joining the middle of the field to exchange a few passes, before he makes a run toward the goal. He proved himself as a quite creative player, capable of finding empty space. Thanks to his dribbling ability and ball control in tight spaces, he is able to find a gap in the defensive line, and create an opportunity for his teammates.
Compared to Lukaku, we immediately notice (download full report for free) how much talent this 23-year-old prospect has. His expected goal index, combined with number of shots and the percentage of those shots finishing on target, demonstrate how dangerous a striker he is. Edouard’s indicators in these areas are higher than Lukaku’s, which means he is already world-class-level goal scoring threat. However, he has to work on improving the conversion of the chances he makes, as his goal conversion percentage is apparently low. He is clearly capable of finding a position for himself to endanger the goal, but must be more efficient in converting these chances.
Edouard plays more often outside the box, as we can see by the number of touches inside the goalkeeper’s area. He can function great in possession-based tactics, as he often moves slightly toward the midfield, unlike Lukaku he is more for the role of a target-man. He possesses above average passing skill and technical ability, which proves his high xA rating, and projected assists are almost identical as with Lukaku. He is capable of playing a quality pass inside the box, and together with his tendency to roam from his position, this has resulted in a higher number of passes to the penalty area.
Lukaku vs Macias
Jose Juan Macias is one of the rising Mexican stars. Plays at Guadalajara, and he is one of the players targeted by major European clubs for the next season. A high work rate, above-average speed and an ability to finish strongly in a variety of ways have put Macias on the map.
Macias’ most common playing role is the role of poacher. In comparison to Lukaku, his goal threat indicators are fairly lower. Although the number of shots per 90 minutes is identical to Lukaku’s (download full report for free), he needs to improve his level of goal chance realization. Because of low goal conversion percentage, even though he manages to endanger the goal at the same rate as Lukaku, due to lower level of efficiency his expected goals per 90 minutes indicator is quite modest.
Lower touches in the box suggest a playing style different from Lukaku’s. His playing style is focused on keeping possession of the ball rather than distributing it, so he can make use of his dribbling abilities. He often receives the ball outside the box, and then builds quick counter attacks thanks to his speed. Macias is less involved in duel games. However, his lower center of gravity grants him much needed stability, so he is capable of winning offensive duels at a slightly higher rate than Lukaku.
Lukaku vs Daka
Patson Daka is another youngster coming from the talent factory of Red Bull Salzburg. Daka has been phenomenal last season, and his stats are impressive. Patson Daka has established himself as one of the most clinical finishers in Europe, as he is capable of scoring goals with both feet, and from various difficult situations.
If we compare him to Lukaku, we can see how astonishing his playing potential is (download full report for free). Daka rarely places shots outside the box, and most of his shots come from inside the penalty area. High level of touches inside the box go in favor of his staggering positioning skill and intelligent off the ball movement.
Thanks to Daka’s incredible composure, he is flexible in front of the goal, which results in higher number of placed shots in the game than Lukaku. Although they have the same percentage of shots on target, Daka’s goal conversion rate puts him among the leaders in Europe, which has the outcome of greater expected goals rate in comparison to Lukaku.
Daka triumphs even when we analyze assists data. With higher xA per 90 minutes and more passes into the penalty area, we can conclude he is more involved in the team’s offensive efforts and creating chances for his teammates.
Lukaku vs Brobbey
Ajax’s Brian Brobbey is often described as the “goal scoring machine”. Another prodigy of Ajax Academy, Brobbey’s scoring data is just insane. In four years as a part of Ajax Youth selection, he scored 94 goals in 4 years. His natural role is target-man, and due to his playing style, athleticism and physical capabilities he is frequently compared to Didier Drogba and Romelu Lukaku.
Even though his playing position and role is almost identical to Lukaku, Brobbey actually plays a bit deeper. This resulted in more touches inside the penalty box than Belgian, as well as low passes toward the penalty area. Brobbey plays farther up front, and showed himself as effective in tying up defenders marking him, often forcing more than one defender to put a pressure on him. This creates additional space for his teammates to exploit it, and above average expected assists show that he plays intelligently and uses those opportunities to set up a chance for other players.
If we take a better look at the data (download full report for free), what is interesting is that Brobbey records more shots per 90 minutes, as well as more shots on target. These factors contributed to a higher xG per 90 minutes rate. However, his goal conversion percentage is actually lower than Lukaku’s. This shows he needs to further work on improving his finishing skill, and not to rely solely on placing more shots in order to score.
Comparison of non penalty goals and offensive duels
From the graph (download full report for free), we can conclude that Lukaku is very much involved up front, with many offensive duels per 90 minutes. He is the third player among Top 50 strikers in Europe’s Top 5 Leagues, when it comes to the number of offensive duels during the game. His physical preparation and strength allow him to effectively hold the ball, and position himself to endanger the opposing goal. This makes Lukaku a difficult player to guard and prevent to score.
Conclusion
It is important to mention that all the players listed are young players age 19 – 23, as our goal was to analyze their potential compared to Lukaku’s abilities. All the players we mention are hot prospects, and their talent should develop further in coming years, before reaching their peak at Lukaku’s age. Their data looks promising, as they are already recording respectful results. There is a great interest from Europe Top 5 Leagues teams for these players. However, they still need to adapt and work further on their development, in order to achieve the effectiveness and impact level Lukaku possesses.
If you are interested in a complete and detailed scout report and all the information about Romelu Lukaku, as well as a comparison with rising talents, feel free to download it from here.
