Belgium manager Roberto Martinez complains pundits spend too much time nit-picking with Inter striker Romelu Lukaku. “Nobody would talk about Diego Maradona not using his right foot.”

The coach spoke to The Times newspaper after Lukaku made an impressive start to his Inter career, scoring 23 goals in 35 competitive games.

Belgium manager Roberto Martinez complains pundits spend too much time nit-picking with Inter striker Romelu Lukaku. “Nobody would talk about Diego Maradona not using his right foot.”

The coach spoke to The Times newspaper after Lukaku made an impressive start to his Inter career, scoring 23 goals in 35 competitive games.

“Pundits have this knack of always highlighting what a player hasn’t got or doesn’t do. There are certain players we always highlight the good things they do, and for other players there are things we highlight they don’t do. Rom fell into that category after his time at Chelsea,” said Martinez.

“He had a phenomenal couple of seasons at Everton, but the moment he left Everton [for Manchester United] there was almost that feeling that everyone was going to highlight when Rom didn’t score, then it would be a negative about his performance.

“That’s been surprising for me because Rom has outstanding qualities. He’s a goalscorer, he cannot be measured about the other things he doesn’t do, like Diego Maradona ‘couldn’t tackle’, ‘couldn’t be good in defensive set plays’ or ‘couldn’t use his right foot’. Nobody would speak how many times Maradona used his right foot.

“Rom is a goalscorer. That’s his job, and what he does best.”

Lukaku has 52 goals in 84 senior caps for Belgium and will turn 27 next month.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Tickets Kit Collector