This season is Lukakus fourth in the Premier League and second with Everton, having joined the Merseyside club permanently from Chelsea in the off-season, but there has been a sense the Belgium international has yet to live up to his reputation with just six goals in 16 league games. Having broken through as a professional in the 2009-10 season with Anderlecht - scoring 15 goals in 33 league matches - Lukaku has been well known in European football for six seasons but remains just 21. The powerful striker does not understand why he cops criticism when pundits and fans are so quick to give Barkley - who is also 21 - leeway for his youthful inconsistency. Sometimes I think people forget Im still 21, Lukaku told The Mirror on Friday. They think Im 25 or 26 because Ive been around for a few seasons now. Sometimes, I look at Ross [Barkley] and think Were both young but people dont realise that. Im still 21, sometimes mistakes happen - things happen because you dont have the right experience. If I keep improving like this, then when Im 25 or 26, thats when there will be no excuses. Lukaku is the youngest forward Everton manager Roberto Martinez has used in the Premier League this season and the Belgian claims he is picking up a lot from the more experienced members of the squad. Samuel Etoo, 33, is a particular mentor for Lukaku. Im picking up lots from him [Etoo] and he has a tremendous football knowledge, the youngster said. He doesnt give me a yard. When I go to do finishing, he follows me across and says, Its you against me again. He hates to lose and I hate to lose so when we are on the same team in the small-sided games, we never lose. Lukaku says he also learns a lot from watching football - lots of football: I watch a lot of games and in a week I can watch 10 games, easy. In Belgium, you grow up watching all the leagues - Germany, France, Spain, Italy, England - and I watch them all. I remember watching Bayern Munich v Man City last year and [Thomas] Muller was always running in behind, running in behind. He never got the ball four times. But the fifth time he did it - goal. I tried that in a game and the third time I did, I got it and scored. Comment on this article!
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 04:57:27 +0000
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