Romelu Lukaku May Not Have Actually Become Belgium's Leading Scorer

Romelu Lukaku has proved himself to be quite an exceptional talent from a very young age. On Tuesday night everyone thought he became Belgium's top goalscorer at just 24 years old, but that's not officially the case.

Really ever since pictures of a young Romelu Lukaku towering over his opponents in Belgium surfaced there's been a lot of pressure on his shoulders and he has generally lived up to that.

This season Lukaku took the step up from Everton, where he'd grabbed 87 goals in 166 appearances for the Toffees, to sign for Manchester United and he started the season with 11 goals in 10 appearances.

_{As if his ability and intelligence weren't enough his size advantage certainly would have put him head and shoulders above everyone in his age range. Image: Twitter}

Though his form has dropped off recently, and he hasn't scored for seven games, he was back on the scoresheet for his national side on Tuesday night as Roberto Martinez' side beat Japan 1-0.

The goal looked to have taken him to 31 strikes for Belgium and seemingly made him their top goalscorer of all time, six months before he reaches his 25th birthday.

However, as reported by the Daily Mail the striker may not have broken his country's record as a friendly against Luxembourg in 2014 saw them use seven substitutes, one more than the allowed six.

That means that FIFA deem it an unofficial match and Lukaku's hat-trick in the match doesn't count to his record, meaning he's still three strikes from breaking the national record of 31.

_{Lukaku celebrates scoring with Eden Hazard during last week's friendly with Mexico. Image: PA}

Lukaku's headed goal, from Nacer Chadli's cross, was his 11th goal in his last 10 appearances for the Red Devils, clearly a nickname he enjoys scoring goals for.

The former Chelsea forward's would be 31st goal for his country might have broken the joint record of Bernard Voorhoof and Paul Van Himst which has lasted since 1974, the last time Van Himst netted for the national team.

At such a relatively young age the United forward has already amassed 334 first team appearances at club level whilst he has 65 international caps to his name.

There is a genuine worry that he could burn out at quite an early age but even then he has another five years at the top of his game and he's likely to further that national record by someway.

The world's defences will be worried about him at the World Cup that's for sure.

Topics: Belgium, Manchester United, Romelu Lukaku

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a writer for SPORTbible. He covers all sport from football, formula one, cricket, rugby, tennis, athletics, mma and wrestling. He obviously hates YOUR football team and has no interest in synchronised swimming.

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