Romelu Lukaku reportedly stepped in to advise Belgian winger Jeremy Doku not to sign for Chelsea when the youngster was still at Anderlecht.

The claims have been made by Anderlecht Academy director Jean Kindermans, who recalled the meeting to the London Evening Standard. 

Romelu Lukaku convinced Doku to turn down Chelsea

When Doku was just 15, he attracted the interest of many top European clubs, including Chelsea. Having gone through a similar journey but finding his first-team opportunities limited under then-Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas, Lukaku decided to step in.

“Come on, pass your phone to me, I’m going to call him,” said Lukaku, in an interview recalled by Kindermans. “I still have the video on my phone. On it, you can hear Romelu giving advice to the Doku family, saying ‘Hey, guys, stay with Anderlecht for a while, you’re good”.

Doku eventually made his first-team debut for Anderlecht a year later in 2018 and moved to French club Rennes in 2020 before his $65m switch to Manchester City this summer.

Meanwhile, Belgian hitman Lukaku has since returned to Chelsea twice and subsequently left twice, spending last season on loan at Inter Milan before moving to Jose Mourinho’s Roma on a short-term deal last month.