First, he was a wingman for Ronaldo, then he assisted Van Nistruei, and the Eredivisie Golden Boot was born at the wrong time

At the request of my friends, let’s talk about Luke Nellis, the Golden Boot of the Eredivisie who was born at the wrong time.

On May 25, 1967, Luke Nellis was born in Hazard, northeastern Belgium. Unlike Ronaldo and Irving, who were successful young peers, Luke Nellis had a rough early career. He debuted at the Belgian second-tier Winterslager team, who was in the Belgian second-tier league, and leveled here for several years, then transferred to Anderlecht, waiting on the bench for a while, and not becoming the team's main striker until he was 20 years old.

start late and you will naturally suffer a loss. Luke Nellis unfortunately missed the golden period of the Belgian national team. Whether it was the 1986 World Cup in Mexico or the 1990 World Cup in Italy, Luke Nellis' name was not on the Belgian national team's roster.

But in that era, the scouting system of the five major leagues was not very developed. Many clubs pay special attention to the players' performance during the World Cup or European Cup when signing. Many players with average strength can become famous overnight just because they played a good game during the World Cup or the European Cup and become guests of the five major leagues.

For Luke Nellis, this situation is obviously extremely unfavorable. This directly led to the fact that in the early stages of his career, clubs in the five major leagues almost did not realize his existence. So much so that until the first half of 1994, Luke Nellis, who was 27 years old at the time, was still hanging out in the Belgian league.

The only thing that is thankful is that Luke Nellis has become the signature star of the Belgian league at this time. So in the 1994 World Cup in the United States, Luke Nellis was selected into the national team's roster without any suspense. It’s a pity that the Belgian team has already begun to decline at this time. Xifu, who was in power back then, has passed his peak period.

plays for a team that is on the decline, and it is too difficult to achieve good results. Even if Luke Nellis tried his best, it would not change the fate of Belgium's team to return home early in the World Cup. Fortunately, Luke Nellis's personal performance is really good. Not long after the World Cup ended, he was invited by the traditional Dutch team Eindhoven and appeared on the stage of the Dutch League.

Just this summer when Luke Nellis joined Eindhoven, Ronaldo, who was still a rookie at the time, also wore the Eindhoven team's jersey and formed a forward partner with Luke Nellis.

If you change to other strikers who are in their prime and meet a rookie partner, you will probably have the idea that the other party is here to assist me. But Luke Nellis has a very good mentality. He has just partnered with Ronaldo and realized Ronaldo's amazing talent. So he took the initiative to put down his figure and acted as a wingman for Ronaldo.

1994-95 season, which is the first season when the pair fought side by side. Ronaldo, assisted by Luke Nellis, scored 30 league goals, with an exaggerated efficiency. In contrast, Luke Nellis, because of his role as a wingman, affected his goal data and only scored 12 league goals.

When you see this, some friends may take it for granted that the reason why Luke Nellis only scored 12 league goals is purely because of the player's ability, and it has little to do with his tactical status.

Regarding this question, Luke Nellis gave the best answer with practical actions in the following 1995-96 season. Because Ronaldo was troubled by injuries and missed many games, Luke Nellis was directly promoted from wingman to main gun and obtained a lot of fire rights. Over the whole season, he scored 21 goals and became the Golden Boot of the Eredivisie.

As Luke Nellis's forward partner, Ronaldo naturally knows how strong his ability and how much he contributes. The Brazilian legend said more than once in an interview that he has many outstanding forward partners, and Luke Nellis is one of them.

It's a pity that the cooperation between the pair lasted only two seasons, and Ronaldo transferred to Barcelona. Luke Nellis became Eindhoven's forward ace and continued his outstanding performance, winning 21 league goals in the 1996-97 season, helping Eindhoven win the league championship.

With his phenomenal performance in the Dutch League, Luke Nellis's status in the Belgian national team is getting higher and higher. By the 1998 World Cup in France, Luke Nellis was already the undisputed Belgian forward ace.

However, at this time, the Belgian national team had a lineup configuration not as good as 4 years ago, and they were still in the same group as the Netherlands and Mexico. The result was that Luke Nellis could only watch his team go home after the group stage. After the frustrated World Cup trip, Luke Nellis returned to Eindhoven to play for a new forward partner: Van Nistroy. Although Fanny has not yet reached his peak at this time, his fame and status are not as good as Luke Nellis, the Dutch Eredivisie Golden Boot. But Luke Nellis did not underestimate Vanny because of this, but instead put down his figure again and helped Vanny Struij.

I have to say that Luke Nellis has a strong ability to assist. With his help, Van Nisstrui played very comfortably. He played violently for two consecutive seasons, becoming a hot spot in the transfer market and attracted the attention of many old European clubs, including Manchester United, which was in full swing at the time.

After Van Nisstrui reached an agreement with Manchester United, Luke Nellis also had the idea of ​​landing in the Premier League. As for his new boss, it is Aston Villa.

With Luke Nellis's ability, he is more than enough to serve as the main force in Aston Villa. He got the opportunity to start in his Premier League debut and also made a phenomenal performance, volleying through Chelsea's goal and won applause.

However, Luke Nellis's luck was so bad. Not long after his amazing debut, he encountered a devastating injury. He collided with the opponent's goalkeeper during the game, and his legs were directly deformed...

Injuries of this level are difficult to recover. In addition, he was over thirty years old at that time. These two factors combined directly led to Luke Nellis being forced to hang up his boots.