A lot of fun was had at Romelu Lukaku’s expense during his time at Man United.
We even indulged in some ourselves here at Dream Team with some cheap jokes about his first touch for the masses to lap up.
It felt immature at the time but the carry-on has been rendered utterly foolish in retrospect.
For starters, the Belgian scored 42 goals in 96 games while at Old Trafford – how many players would cherish a record like that during what was perceived as a career low point?
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By his own admission, Lukaku was overweight during his time in Manchester.
Belgium wanted him to be bulky for the 2018 World Cup but his condition was also partially caused by a ‘malfunctioning digestive system’ that was never diagnosed at Man United.
Inter’s doctors addressed the problem almost immediately and Lukaku lost half a stone in 12 days before going on to lose another stone in a noticeable transformation.
The 28-year-old has gone stratospheric since moving to Italy, scoring 64 goals in two seasons.
He added assists to his game this campaign – only Ruslan Malinovskiy provided more in Serie A – to inspire the Nerazzurri to their first league title since 2010.
Nobody can claim the Premier League was too hard for him either, given he consistently scored goals for Everton – he even scored 17 goals in a single season for West Brom.
In fact, Lukaku has 113 Premier League goals to his name, a tally bettered by only 19 other players since the top flight’s revamp in 1992.
Despite this, there is a legion of observes (mostly Man United fans) who still sceptical of his calibre.
This crop scoff at every celebratory post about his achievements in Italy – of which there have been many in recent times – and push a narrative that the Lukaku of Old Trafford was a true representation of the player rather than the world-beater of Anderlecht, West Brom, Everton, Inter and Belgium.
Euro 2020 is the perfect platform for Lukaku to settle these remaining scores.
He enters the tournament in the best form of his life, in the prime years of his career, and with a favourable group draw.
Belgium, the world’s number one ranked side, take on Denmark, Russia and Finland in Group B.
The only potential stumbling block for Lukaku as Euro 2020 approaches is the condition of Kevin De Bruyne’s face after his collision with Antonio Rudiger’s shoulder in the Champions League final.
Man City’s chief playmaker suffered a fractured nose and orbital to put he a question mark against his name.
We recently ranked Lukaku as the number one Dream Team Euros striker above the likes of Harry Kane and Cristiano Ronaldo but that might have to change if De Bruyne’s participation is hindered.
However, Belgium are not solely reliant on the strawberry-blonde midfielder, Youri Tielemans, Dries Mertens and the Hazard brothers will also seek to supply Lukaku this summer.
At £6.0m, he’s a seriously tempting Dream Team Euros asset, hence his 43.2% ownership.
Can you afford to start the tournament without Lukaku in your XI?