Premier League is destiny calling to Romelu Lukaku

A groundsman waits impatiently on the touchline, fork in hand, to tend the turf as Baggies coach Keith Downing watches Lukaku bend a barrage of free-kicks over a wall of yellow, plastic 'defenders' towards goal.

The Belgium international is running late for his 12.30pm appointment with the Express & Star. But, such is his dedication to improvement, he is forgiven quickly.

"I do it every day," he reveals. "I did 20 minutes of finishing today, and then I switched over to free-kicks. You can always improve points in your games.

"I have the qualities to be a complete striker and I have the people around me that can help me to do it."

Such confidence and single-mindedness is rare in a man of 19. But Lukaku is no ordinary teenager, as his mother will testify.

Albion's on-loan leading scorer was just 15 years old when he made an ambitious pledge to mum Adolphine at the family home in Belgium.

Her eldest son hit his target, just as he has done at every stage so far in a remarkable start to his career. Lukaku is a man who knows what he wants from football, and has a vision of how to get it.

"I have had a clear idea since I was 14 or 15," he said.

"I told my mother that by the time I was 16 I would be playing in a first team and she laughed. But I turned 16 and 11 days later I made my debut for Anderlecht.

"I don't have time to lose and that's why I work very hard and when I play I make the best out of it. Every year is a new opportunity to be better."

So, where did the 15-year-old Romelu think he would be now, at the age of 19?

"Playing in the Premier League, definitely," he confirms, casually, before revealing a sense of vindication that his £18m move to Chelsea in the summer of 2011 has begun to bear fruit since he joined the Baggies on a season-long loan.

"When I started playing at 16 at Anderlecht, I said I would be there for two or three years maximum and I would be out. I did two.

"In Belgium I got a lot of criticism for last year (he started just one Premier League game) but I left for Chelsea because I knew it was time to go and learn from other players – the really big players.

"I sacrificed one year. What's wrong with that? It's my choice. I wanted to be with top-level players to see how they work.

"I'm not sorry about the step I made, I'm very happy about it, because now I'm 100 per cent better than I was at 17 and I am still improving."

Baggies coaches are only too well aware of Lukaku's rush to get better.

The Belgium international studies basketball heroes LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durrant for tips on self-improvement and is currently reading Wayne Rooney's autobiography.

He went to a big club at the same age as me and I can learn from that," he reveals. The 6ft 3in tall teenager is no fool. He speaks seven languages and, while working on his football, studied media and PR at college.

There was never serious doubt, however, about the path his life would take once Zaire-born father Roger – a former professional with FC Boom, RFC Seraing and Germinal Ekeren in Belgium – spotted the potential of Romelu and younger brother Jordan, who now plays for Anderlecht.

"I started playing at six," recalls Romelu.

"I knew I was the best in my class because, when we played, I did step-overs at six or seven. I went back in and told my dad to come and look, he took me in the car and we drove to the sports shop.

"He bought my first pair of Nike boots and a kit and then we went to a training pitch with all the children at Boom, the first club my dad went to when he arrived in Belgium.

"We played on a big pitch but I wasn't tall then. I didn't start growing until around 12 or 13, then I shot up.

"Lierse took me when I was 11 and then Anderlecht came. They came to our home with the papers to sign my brother, I went downstairs to congratulate him, they saw me and the guy took another set of papers out!

"They had seen me play, because every time we played Anderlecht in the youth team I had a day that was my day. After I moved to Anderlecht we played against Lierse and they gave me a shirt with 76 on the back.

"All the guys at Anderlecht asked why I had 76 on the back of my shirt and I told them it was because that's how many goals I'd scored for Lierse the previous season."

A move to Chelsea finally came after two prolific seasons in Belgium's top flight and, after a year of settling in, a temporary switch to the Hawthorns followed, since when Lukaku has announced his arrival on the Premier League stage.

Ten goals have come in league action despite the giant youngster making just 11 starts. And, having made his mark so young, he is shocked to learn he is still four years short of the average age for a Premier League debutant.

"Wow, seriously?" he says "That's old!

"In Belgium you can have 200 games in the top division by 23. It's nice to hear. If that's the case then I'm still young to be playing in the Premier League.

"I knew straight away that playing in this league would be difficult and when I saw Nicolas Anelka's first touch at Chelsea, I called my dad and told him I thought I'd seen the best striker I'd seen in my life.

"Anelka's movement and Didier Drogba's finishing, when they were playing together, was incredible. I was playing in the first team when I left Anderlecht and I already had 100 games in my legs.

"I thought Chelsea wouldn't see me as a baby but I played in the reserves, whereas at Anderlecht I was playing in front of 30,000 people in the Champions League.

"When you then come to a big club and play in the reserves that's a mental blow. In Belgium, they were writing me off and saying I wouldn't make it. I never responded."

Lukaku has responded with goals, however, leaving the Baggies to wonder whether Chelsea will match the player's willingness to spend another season at The Hawthorns.

His ambition to extend his Baggies stay for an extra year has not changed. But for once, the man with the plan is staying cagey about his next move.

"Let's just perform, and not look ahead too much at my future," he said. "My aim is to play as much as possible and to score loads of goals. My aim is to just be better every day."