Romelu Lukaku revealed that he was considering leaving the Belgian national team after their disappointing exit of the European Championships in Germany last year.
Lukaku could not find the back of the net at Euro 2024 when Belgium was eliminated by France in the round of 16 phase.
The Napoli striker is the top scorer of Belgium of all time with 85 goals, while only Eden Hazard (126), Toby Alderweireld (127), Axel Witsel (132) and Jan Vertonghen (157) have made more performances for the Red Devils than Lukaku.
He was also appointed co-captain of the team together with Kevin De Bruyne by the new head coach Rudi Garcia, with Lukaku who would lead his team on Thursday for the first stage of their Nations League play-off against Ukraine in Murcia.
“I will be honest, after the defeat to France I was very disappointed,” said Lukaku. “I told Jan Vertonghen that I no longer felt a connection with the national team.”
Lukaku spent the Lages League matches of Belgium in September and October, with the Red Devils only won once in their five games without him in their team.
The 31-year-old was persuaded to return to the international stage after a discussion with the new technical director of the Belgian football club, Vincent Mannaert.
“He presented me a new vision. Then I realized that I couldn't stop,” Lukaku added.
“I had good conversations with the coach (Garcia), after which I knew for sure that I wanted to bring Belgium back to the top.”
Lukaku is in good shape this season for Antonio Conte's Napoli and this season registered 18 target contributions (10 goals, eight assists) in the Serie A this season.
Since his first season with a goal in the top five European competitions, only Robert Lewandowski (13) has scored 10 or more goals in more campaigns than Lukaku (12).
But Lukaku has now made five games without a goal at an international level, with his last strike against Luxembourg in a friendly back in June 2024.
He was an integral part of the 'Golden Generation' from Belgium from 2014 to 2022, and helped them a third placed finish on the World Cup 2018, although their exit of the same competition saw four years later that their chance to win an international honor had disappeared.
Lukaku, however, wants to leave the recent form of the Red Devils behind.
“The most important thing now is to concentrate on tomorrow. We want to show our winning mentality on the field again,” Lukaku added.
We must show our supporters that we are proud to wear the shirt. “
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