Romelu Lukaku, 32-year-old Belgian striker from Napoli, lost his father Roger Lukaku last month, aged 58. Roger, a former footballer from KV Oostende, KV Mechelen and Germinal Ekeren, also father of the Adanaspor player Jordan Lukaku, died in his country, Democratic Republic of the Congo (Zaire back in 1967, when Roger was born), and will be buried in the capital Kinshasa, despite Romelu and Jordan's attempts of bringing the body to Belgium, where Roger moved in 1990.
On Instagram, Lukaku claimed that they have been extorted and couldn't bring the body to Europe, where they wanted to bury him. "Our dad passed away on the 28 of September and we as brothers tried everything to bring his corpse back to Europe but we felt that we were being extorted by some people", he posted.
"If our father was here today he wouldn't accept it. It breaks our soul for us to not put our father to rest. But some people didn't want it. We understand know why our dad used to keep us away from a lot of people", he added.
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Last month, when Roger died, Romelu Lukaku posted a heartfelt message: "Thank you for teaching me everything I know. I am eternally grateful and cherish you. Life will never be the same. You protected me and guided me like no one else could. I'll never be the same. The pain and tears flow freely. But God will give me the strength to recover. Thank you for everything, Dad."