Romelu Lukaku Speaks So Many Languages That They Don't Fit In Box In UEFA Official Document

Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku speaks so many languages that they don't even fit in the box in UEFA's official document.

With the innate worldwide appeal of the Champions League, journalists and broadcasters receive a list of players and the languages they are fluent in for interviews.

Member of the media Nick Stoll published Chelsea's list and it's utterly fascinating to see. Every single English player on the squad only speaks their native language, with a few players fluent in three languages.

Mateo Kovacic can communicate in five different tongues but even that pales in comparison to Lukaku, who may well be the most multilingual footballer in the world.

His box on the list looks very different to everyone else's, with the Belgian striker able to speak French, German, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Flemish and Italian.

And incredibly, the UEFA form does not include the Bantu language of Lingala, which Lukaku also speaks due to his Congolese roots.

So that's an impressive NINE languages in total for Lukaku. In 2018, he surprised the Brazilian media by casually doing an interview in Portuguese after helping Belgium beat the Selecao in the World Cup quarter-final.

Lukaku revealed that Jose Bosingwa helped him learn Portuguese during his first spell at Chelsea, and recently he's been trying to sharpen it up again to speak with the likes of Jorginho and Thiago Silva.

When Lukaku moved to Italy following a switch to Inter Milan, he was speaking Italian in less than three months while giving an interview to Inter's official TV channel.

The 28-year-old feels speaking a slew of different languages helps him on and off the pitch.

"It's important for me to express myself to my teammates," Lukaku told Bleacher Report, as per ESPN.

"It's important for me as a player that they understand me perfectly. How I want the ball. Where I want the ball. In front of the defender, beside the defender, behind the defender.

"I have to know those exact words in Italian because the subtleties are different in every language. There's no substitute for that."

Featured Image Credit: Image: Twitter

Topics: Romelu Lukaku, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Champions League

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

@joshlawless_