Romelu Lukaku scored his 50th goal for Everton on Monday night, but how does his goal record compare to that of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo when they were his age? The answer might just surprise you.
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Overall, the Belgian has already scored 108 goals in 251 games at club level – 50 for the Toffees, 41 for Anderlecht and 17 for West Brom.
It may sound surprising, but that's more than how many both Messi and Ronaldo had scored by the time they were Lukaku's age of 22 years, six months and 25 days, as Belgian journalist Kristof Terreur pointed out.
Lukaku edges Messi by seven goals, but also played 63 more senior games than the Argentine. The Everton striker has netted almost twice as many goals as Ronaldo did at his age, with the Portuguese scoring 55 goals in 221 games.
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According to Terreur, only Ronaldo de Lima (188 goals in 221 games), Neymar (151 goals in 267 games) and Raul (112 goals in 251 games) had scored more than Lukaku has to date.
The in-form striker has already scored 14 goals in all competitions this season and netted in his past five consecutive games.
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He also has a better goal record at his age than Wayne Rooney (102 goals in 287 games), Luis Suarez (82 goals in 159 games), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (67 goals in 156 games), Ruud van Nistelrooy (55 goals in 131 games) and Thierry Henry (48 goals in 194 games) did.
Do you think Chelsea made a mistake in selling Lukaku? Have your say in the comments section below.
