From grass to grace: Romelu Lukaku opens up on his humble background upbringing.
“we were broke, not just poor, totally broke…. “, Says Romelu Lukaku.
Troubled Chelsea striker opened up on his poor childhood upbringing.Born in Antwerp, Belgium to Congolese parents, Lukaku had a tough upbringing you could ever think of.Emotional Romelu Lukaku says : “We didn’t have enough money to have milk for the whole week. We were broke. Not just poor, totally broke. I came home at night and the lights were off. No electricity for two, three weeks.
Sometimes my mother even had to “borrow” bread from the baker down the street. The baker knew me and my little brother so he let us take away a loaf on Monday and pay for it on Friday.
I knew we had difficulties. But when she added water to the milk, I realized it was much worse, You know what I mean? Our life was that. I didn’t say a word. I didn’t want to worry him. I just swallowed my lunch but I promised God I made myself a promise that day.
It was as if someone snapped their fingers and woke me up
Sometimes I would come home from school and find my mother crying. So one day I said to him: “Mom, things will change. You’ll see. I’ll be playing football for Anderlecht soon. We’ll be fine. You won’t have to worry anymore.”
Lukaku dream came to reality as he made his professional debut for Anderlecht aged 16yrs old. Despite being a teenager Lukaku scored 33 goals in 73 appearances for Anderlecht to earn a move to Premier league side Chelsea in 2011. Lukaku have played for Westbromwich Albion, Everton, Manchester United,Inter Milan, and two spells at Chelsea.
Belgium national team captain and all time topscorer is on a €315,000 per week contract at Chelsea.
