Birthday Boys- Romelu Lukaku and Yaya Toure

Today we will explore the careers of two Birthday Boys, Romelu Lukaku and Yaya Toure. Two players that have had very good careers, one reaching his peak and the other about to retire.

Romelu Lukaku

Credit: Goal.com

Romelu Lukaku turns 27 today. Let’s have a look at the Belgian’s career so far.

A very good European striker, Romelu Lukaku has had a great career coming through at Anderlecht to playing for European giants like Chelsea, Manchester United and Inter Milan.

Lukaku signed his professional contract for Anderlecht in 2009. In his two professional seasons at Anderlecht, the striker featured 98 times for the Belgian club scoring 41 goals and assisting 18 times.

Chelsea saw their chance and brought the Belgian to London for £13.5 million in the summer of 2011. He featured 12 times that season for the first team assisting once in the Premier League. In the reserves for Chelsea, Lukaku displayed his talent, featuring nine times, scoring seven goals and assisting once.

A year later the big Belgian striker was loaned out for a season to West Bromwich Albion. Lukaku played 38 games that season scoring an impressive 17 goals.

He returned to Chelsea and was back out on loan this time to Merseyside with Everton signing the striker on loan. Lukaku featured over 30 times for the Toffees that season and impressed with 16 goals and eight assists.

Everton splashed the cash for the Belgian at the beginning of the 14/15 season, signing the striker for £32 million. Lukaku spent three seasons at the Toffees playing over 160 games for the Merseyside club scoring 87 goals and assisting 27 goals. Over 100 goals contributions for the striker saw Manchester United chase the striker’s signature.

£75 million Manchester United eventually paid Everton for the services of Romelu Lukaku, who experienced a successful time at Old Trafford. He played 96 times for Manchester United scoring 42 goals and assisting 13 times. He wanted a move away from United in 2019 and he got his wish.

Antonio Conte’s Inter Milan signed the Belgian for £58.5 million last summer and he is still currently at Inter having scored 23 goals and assited five times in 35 appearances this season.

On the international stage, Lukaku has played 84 times for the Belgian national team scoring 52 goals in the process which is a great return especially on the international stage.

Lukaku has only won one trophy in his club career which is being crowned Belgian champions with Anderlecht in 2010. He has participated in two World Cups and a European Championship. There’s still a lot of time to go for Lukaku in his career to win more trophies for club and country.

Yaya Toure

Credit: The Telegraph

The midfielder has travelled around the world to play football. From the Ivory Coast to China. He has played for many clubs around the globe and we will have a look into the now 36-year-olds career.

From 1998 to 2001, the midfielder was in the Ivory Coast playing for JMG Abidjan and ASEC Mimosas. In July 2001, he moved to Europe to play for Belgian outfit KSK Beveren.

The next move on the cards saw Toure move to Ukraine to play three games in two seasons for Metallurg Donetsk. After that unsuccessful spell, the midfielder moved to Greece for a season to play for Olympiacos. The midfielder featured 29 times and scored three times for the Greek side.

The 06/07 season saw Toure move to France and play for AS Monaco for one season appearing 30 times in all competitions scoring five goals and assisting seven times.

This form from the previous season saw Yaya Toure snapped up by FC Barcelona who he enjoyed a good three year spell playing over 100 games for the club as he departed the club to move to a long term project in Manchester City.

After a long eight year spell at the Citizens, Toure accumulated over 300 appearances for the club scoring 79 goals and assisting 50 times in that time frame. Regarded as one of the best midfielders the Prem has seen, Toure proved his point by scoring 20 goals in the 13/14 Premier League season.

After leaving Manchester City, the midfielder returned back to Greece to play for Olympiacos only featuring five times and leaving the club to go to China.

Qingdao Huanghai signed the midfielder as he featured 14 times for the Chinese League One club in 2019. He is currently without a club and we don’t know if he will return or retire and become a coach.

On the international stage, he’s played 97 games for the Ivory Coast scoring 19 goals.

He’s won many trophies in his long lasting career.

For Olympiacos he won the Greek Cup and won the league in 2006.

With Barcelona he won the UEFA Supercup, the FIFA Club World Cup, the Spanish Supercup, the Spanish Cup, Spanish Champion twice and he won the Champions League.

With Manchester City he won the Community Shield, League Cup three times, the FA Cup and the Premier League three times. He also won the Africa Cup of Nations with the Ivory Coast and won African Footballer of the Year four times.

He’s won everything in his amazing career and hopefully he can win more as a player or even as a coach for Manchester City in the future.