Manchester City and Belgium defender Vincent Kompany said that Belgium players laughed on hearing about Romelu Lukaku’s retirement plans. Lukaku said that he will retire from international football after Euro 2020. However, Kompany said that he will try to persuade the Manchester United striker to change his mind.
Kompany said, “I can hardly imagine that I’m going to have a lot of trouble convincing him to go even further. Young players sometimes say things that they later regret. We all laughed at it. When Romme stops, I will pick him up at his home in Manchester and I will take him to Brussels. He does not live too far from me.”
Belgium goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois said that he doubts if Lukaku will stand by his decision. He said, “An attacker like Lukaku works very hard and has little rest. That weighs in time. But if we were to win the European Championship, I can not imagine that he will stop. It would be very unfortunate.”
Romelu Lukaku is Belgium’s all-time top goal scorer with 43 goals in 77 matches. He has scored 12 goals in as many international matches this year. This includes four goals at the World Cup. He began the Nations League strongly by netting a brace against Iceland.
When Euro 2020 comes, Lukaku will be only 27 at that time and that is not exactly an age at which a footballer retires from international football. Nowadays, strikers generally announce their international retirement when they are 32-33. And given Lukaku’s fitness, if things stay as they are right now, he can easily play the next two World Cups.
