Several people who really should know better (looking at you Glen Johnson and others) seemed to question whether Romelu Lukaku would take to the Premier League in his second stint.
This is quite hilarious for a number of reasons.
Firstly it displays English people’s ability to instantly doubt a player’s credentials the moment they arrive from elsewhere.
Secondly, reinforcing this entirely, it makes these same people become completely unaware of a player’s previous stint in English football.
Do the other European leagues act as some sort of Men in Black style memory wipe?
Whilst it is pretty annoying how certain corners of the media, you know who you are (actually they probably don’t) seemingly do precisely no research before turning up for radio gigs and blogs that will remain unnamed, it is kind of funny to watch people predict someone with 113 Premier League goals before Sunday not to ‘do it’ in the, um, Premier League.
Even aside from the memory loss, the idea that Lukaku wouldn’t hack it on a cold and rainy night at *insert bad Premier League side (probably Burnley) here* is quite laughable.
The physical profile of the league is always what seems to set it apart from others whenever a big transfer is rumoured.
Often, this has a basis in truth, as some memorable names have either failed, or remarked on the physical nature of the league.
In the Athletic, Yaya Touré described how play is much more intense than La Liga for example, when explaining the need for bums in football, no less.
You’d think then, that when people took one look at Lukaku, their first thought would not be along the lines of ‘has he got it physically?’
Here is a picture for reference:
At roughly 6 foot 3 and according to Eurosport, a lean 94kg, the suggestion that he doesn’t fit the profile of a successful Premier League striker is pretty funny.
Obviously we all knew this, but his (second) debut goal against Arsenal on Sunday solidified it.
Lukaku took the ball with his back to goal about 30 yards from goal, held the defender off and played it wide, before steaming into the box, flattening the unfortunate Pablo Mari, before appearing on the end of Reece James’ cross and leading to this entertaining snapshot:
So, in short, the guy with over 100 Premier League goals, who scored 28 in Serie A last season, who is both enormous and rapid, *might* have a chance in English football.
Photo credit: crommelincklars on flickr, creative commons 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode
Michael Vince on Sport 