During Roberto Martinez's first meet-up with his team as new Belgian manager, his new assistant Thierry Henry had a specific bit of coaching to do. The Arsenal legend took Romelu Lukaku, Eden Hazard and Christian Benteke aside and showed them a few clips of their play, before asking them what they thought. Henry then gave the players some advice on what they could do better.
Sources told ESPN FC the three players sat there "wide-eyed," impressed by the depth of his insight. For Lukaku, in particular, the feedback from a world-class striker was exactly what he wanted to hear. It was exactly what he had been looking for.
At 23, the Everton striker is fully aware he is at a key point in his career, but is determined to make the next step. Sources close to the player told ESPN FC that he is determined to become the best striker in the world.
Despite having many of the right qualities, however, Lukaku is not even among the top band of forwards yet. On the one hand, his 125 career goals are more than Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Suarez, Wayne Rooney and Zlatan Ibrahimovic had scored at the same age. On the other hand, he remains streaky and unreliable: last season's 18 league goals were punctuated by barren spells of four, five and nine games. Those nine games actually stretched to 11 at the start of the new campaign, until Lukaku finally ended his drought with a brilliant hat trick in a 3-0 win over Sunderland on Monday.
"What impressed me was his goals came from crosses into the box," former Everton striker Graeme Sharp told ESPN FC. "He was getting frustrated last season. That cross wasn't coming, and the football of Roberto [Martinez] didn't necessarily play to his strengths. Now, with Yannick Bolasie on the wing, it's Rom's job to get into the box. He did it the other night, and I think it could be a watershed moment."
It did feel as if a lot came together for Lukaku after a slightly frustrating last two years. The Belgian bore a lot of responsibility during that time but the style didn't always suit him. Martinez often wanted Lukaku to play with his back to goal to facilitate a possession game. That was fine when both the player and team were on form, but a rawness was exposed when they were not.
"One criticism is that he's lazy," former Chelsea and Blackburn striker Chris Sutton told ESPN FC. "Is that fair? I don't think so. I don't know him that well, but is he then a bit temperamental, gets a bit down on himself?"
The way Lukaku was so affected by missing a penalty for Chelsea in the 2013 Super Cup against Bayern Munich -- to the point he immediately requested a transfer -- shows how hard he is on himself, but he is also tackling it in the most proactive way. The player wants to leave no stone unturned to become the best in the world.
This is why the advice of Henry was so valued, especially since Lukaku loves to ask other strikers about aspects of his game. Even during the summer break, sources told ESPN FC that the striker was regularly kicking a ball against a wall to improve his first touch, had his own fitness programme and even hired his own chef to ensure the most suitable diet.