Club News

Albion 'perfect' for Romelu

And striker eager to maintain momentum in cup tie

ROMELU Lukaku says Albion is proving the ‘perfect’ place to hone his talents after scoring the winner in Saturday’s 1-0 victory over Reading.

And the on-loan 19-year-old insists he is happy to put his own Chelsea ambitions on hold in order to try and help boost the Baggies’ top-flight aspirations.

Steve Clarke’s men have made their best-ever start to a Barclays Premier League campaign after five games and Lukaku is eager to maintain the momentum in Wednesday’s Capital One Cup third-round tie with Liverpool (ko 8pm).

“I thought West Brom would be the perfect place for me to develop myself,” said the Belgium striker.

“I was told it was a friendly club by a lot of players and when I arrived here it was similar to Anderlecht.

“The city of Birmingham is also very nice and my girlfriend and I have settled very well.

“I'm in the perfect position to perform week in and week out."

He added: “For me, in the next two years, it is very important for me to play.

“I'm just 19 and even though I'll be 20 next year, people will still look at me like a baby. The next year I'll be 21, I'll still be a baby in some people's eyes.

“Then there is the World Cup and stuff like that.

“I want to play as much as I can in the next two years so at 21 I can be where I want to be.

“Last year I had good preparation at Chelsea, now I can show myself at West Brom.

“My dream is always to play for Chelsea, so my main ambition will be Chelsea, but now it's West Brom and West Brom is on my mind.

“I hope Chelsea have a good season but I hope we have a good season as well.

“The club made a big effort for me to come here and hopefully I can do the business for the team.”

Lukaku insists the Baggies have the squad to handle a cup run as well as produce the goods in the league and he heads into Wednesday’s cup tie with fond memories of scoring on his Albion debut in the opening-day 3-0 win over the Reds.

“To beat them in the league was a big achievement for us but Liverpool will want revenge,” he said.

“We have to be ready.

"If we are to keep our momentum going, we need to win the game against Liverpool so we can go with a clear mind at Villa.

“We can do well in both competitions here."