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Lukaku: I'm not Didier Drogba

Romelu Lukaku scored against Liverpool on the opening day of the season for West Brom © PA Photos

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Romelu Lukaku is ready to emerge from the shadow of Didier Drogba after claiming he is bored of comparisons with the Ivorian.

The striker, on-loan at West Brom from Chelsea, was hailed as the new Drogba, when he was lured to Stamford Bridge for £18 million last summer.

A miserable first season under Andre Villas-Boas left the 19-year-old stuck in Drogba's shadow and Lukaku is delighted to have escaped to the Hawthorns to finally bury the constant comparisons, even though Drogba has moved to China.

"At first it was ok - but I'm bored of it now. It isn't necessary and I don't like it now," Lukaku said. "I have my father's surname, I am Romelu Lukaku. I'm not anybody else. This is my own name and the name I want people to remember.

"Didier and I have a similar playing style, but I don't think he would have wanted to be compared to someone when he was young. Every player wants to be their own person, their own personality. I don't want to be the 'new anyone'."

Despite his decision to leave Chelsea to spend the season on loan under former Stamford Bridge coach Steve Clarke, Lukaku hailed the impact Drogba and Frank Lampard had on the development of his career.

Lukaku spent countless extra hours working with the duo on the training ground and added: "At Chelsea, I used to stay behind every day with Lamps. We would work on finishing - with a competition as to who could finish the most chances. Along with Drogba too sometimes, we would work on getting stronger in certain situations.

"Making sure we could finish with my left foot, right foot - we would repeat this over and over. We would repeat movements of play so that on a Saturday in the game you are better prepared for where the ball will be played or how it will come in, where it will be laid off.

"Lampard and Drogba were two players I spent a lot of time with. They were very important to my development. I like to learn from others, ask questions, ask why that is being done, ask why it will help me."

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