Romelu Lukaku stays in shape on holiday after Everton star admits hard work pays off

Romelu Lukaku was criticised despite scoring 20 goals last season
The Everton striker shared a picture of him running on holiday in LA
Belgium international has credited Roberto Martinez with return to form

Published:
22:58 GMT, 23 June 2015

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Updated:
02:02 GMT, 24 June 2015

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It may be football’s off-season but that hasn’t stopped Everton striker Romelu Lukaku from staying in shape while on holiday in Los Angeles.

The Belgium international, who has been enjoying a break in the US with compatriot Memphis Depay and in-demand Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba, shared a post-exercise selfie on Instagram accompanied by the caption: ‘Great run in LA this morning’.

Lukaku signed for the Toffees in a £28million five-year deal from Chelsea last summer and scored 20 goals in all competitions last season at Goodison Park but was still criticised for suffering from a slow start.

Romelu Lukaku shared a picture of himself after going for run while on holiday in LA

The striker has been enjoying a break with (L-R) Memphis Depay, Salomon Kalou and Paul Pogba

Speaking to Everton’s official website, he said: ‘When I was here on loan last year I used to score goals and everybody would point the fingers at Chelsea and say ‘why did you let him leave?’

‘Then when I come here and I don’t score goals and it’s ‘why did you come?’ ‘

‘I think a lot of people doubted about the qualities that I had, thinking about the transfer and the price tag and stuff. But I never spoke a lot. I just kept on working and kept focused on what I had to do to help my teammates.’

The 22-year-old credits manager Roberto Martinez for helping him through a struggling start to finish the season strongly with 13 goals from the turn of the year.

‘The manager left me out in December in a couple of games,’ he continued. ‘That was a wake-up call for me to look at myself in the mirror and say ‘Rom, you’re not playing well now, you have to be serious with yourself, you have to work maybe harder’.

Lukaku was criticised last season despite scoring 20 goals in all competitions for the Toffees

The 22-year-old has credited manager Roberto Martinez for bringing him through his lean spell

‘Even though I was working very hard maybe I had to give more.

‘That’s something that you need to learn as a young player – that when things are not going well you need to push yourself, work hard, do everything you can to get back in the starting line-up and know that the team is the most important thing.’

Lukaku and Everton will be in action in the Barclays Asia Trophy in July.