Lomana LuaLua

Colchester United

LuaLua joined Colchester United in September 1998. Initially, he struggled to adapt and he preferred going to nightclubs over playing for Colchester, Harrop says, "It took a lot of hard work by the staff at Colchester. Micky Cook, the director of youth, had to spend endless hours with him and [manager] Steve Wignall and then [the next manager] Steve Whitton had to spend a lot of time with him talking him through the tactical side of the game and what his role was within the team". LuaLua scored within four minutes of his debut where he appeared as a substitute in a 3–1 defeat to Chesterfield. In two seasons, he made 68 league and cup appearances for Colchester, 44 starts and 24 substitute appearances, scoring a total of 21 goals. His performances attracted the attention of several Premiership clubs, and despite manager Steve Whitton's denial that LuaLua was for sale LuaLua joined Newcastle United in September 2000 for a fee of £2.25 million. An earlier offer by Newcastle of £300,000 for LuaLua made by former manager, Ruud Gullit, had been rejected, but the much increased bid offered financial security and assistance towards a new ground and was one that Colchester felt they could not turn down.

Newcastle United

LuaLua had been brought to the attention of Newcastle manager, Bobby Robson, by Mick Wadsworth, assistant-manager at Newcastle United, who was a former manager of Colchester. Robson watched LuaLua before deciding to negotiate the…

2002 and 2004 Africa Cup of Nations

LuaLua was first named by the DR Congo national team in the preliminary squad for the African Nations Cup finals in Mali in January 2002. He played in the 0–0 draw with Togo, the 1–0 loss to Cameroon, the 3–1 win over Ivory Coast and the quarter-final match against Senegal, which DR Congo lost 2–0 amid some controversy. LuaLua blamed the referee Domenico Messina for the defeat: "We had a lot of fouls which the referee didn't give and there was a penalty right in front of him but he just let the match go on. Sometimes they [the Senegalese] fell over without being touched, screamed, and the referee just gave the foul to them."

DR Congo's qualifying campaign for the 2004 African Nations Cup in Tunisia began six months after the 2002 tournament ended, with a match against Libya on 8 September. Libya won the match 3–2. LuaLua initially indicated that he might not play in the match, but did so reluctantly after threats were made to his family, which caused him to reconsider his international career. Robson commented, "He didn't want to go and play in that match. But he said he had to go because his grandmother had been threatened." He played in the 2–0 win over Botswana in October 2002, when he scored inside five minutes but was later sent off for dissent. He was suspended for two matches and his next appearance was in the 0–0 draw with Botswana in July 2003, which secured qualification for the finals of the competition. LuaLua…

LuaLua was born Trésor Lua Lua Lomana – Lua Lua, his grandfather's given name, was passed to him and his brother Kazenga – in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo), in 1980, but moved to England as a young boy in 1989. His family settled in Forest Gate in London; there, he attended Forest Gate Community School and started to play football at the age of 16, while also being involved in gymnastics. His activity in gymnastics was the base of his trademark goal celebration, seven back flips and a backward somersault. LuaLua represented his school at football after he was spotted kicking a tennis ball around in the playground. He was playing for Leyton Sixth Form College, where he studied performing arts, when he was spotted at the age of 17 by second division side, Colchester United. Geoff Harrop, a scout for Colchester College's football team, was impressed by LuaLua's performance, "He was taking on the whole team by the end of the game and it wasn't hard to pick him out among 22 young 17-year-olds." Harrop invited the striker for a trial at Colchester United and he was signed by the club. His brother, Kazenga LuaLua, is also a professional footballer, and two of his cousins also play professionally, Yannick Bolasie and Trésor Kandol.

In September 2003, LuaLua was fined £175 by Newcastle Magistrates Court for watching British television without a licence. In 2005, LuaLua became patron of the Haslar Visitors Group, a charity that works with detainees in an immigration removal centre. In the following year, he set up the LuaLua Foundation, building a hostel, sport and education complex in Kinshasa to provide care and education for orphaned children in DR Congo. He is also actively involved in the Show Racism the Red Card campaign and was involved in the launch of a new video entitled "A Safe Place", which features Premiership footballers talking about their experiences with racism. LuaLua is a born-again Christian and his former teammate at Portsmouth, Linvoy Primus, was quoted saying "We are not scared to say we pray together before games. About 45 minutes before a game we link our arms and just pray that we can glorify God." LuaLua wrote the foreword to You Can Have Chips, the autobiography of his former manager Steve Wignall.