Lomana LuaLua

Trésor Lomana LuaLua (born 28 December 1980) is a Congolese professional footballer who played as a striker.

He is currently the attacking coach for Spalding United.

LuaLua was born in Kinshasa, but moved to England at a young age.

After impressing in a college football match, he signed for Colchester United.

There he scored a total of 21 goals in 68 appearances which prompted Newcastle United to sign him.

However, the competition for places meant he was less of a regular in the first team, and after four seasons and 88 appearances, he transferred to Portsmouth, the club that had previously loaned him for three months while at Newcastle.

He remained there for three seasons, but his spell was marred by disciplinary problems and malaria.

After leaving Portsmouth, he moved teams frequently, representing sides in Greece, Qatar, Cyprus and Turkey, in addition to a brief return to English football at Blackpool.

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.

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.

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 transfer, and said, "I see [LuaLua] as a special talent. He has to learn how to play with the other players but he's a special new talent. He has to be nursed and cherished and taught. But we are buying long-term a very promising talent, a very promising player."

LuaLua signed a five-year contract with the club.

He made his first-team debut in a 1–0 home defeat to Charlton Athletic in September 2000 and made 23 league and cup appearances for Newcastle in the 2000–01 season without scoring.

He scored twice in Newcastle's Intertoto Cup campaign at the beginning of the 2001–02 season but his first Premiership goal did not come until April 2002, when he scored a last-minute winner in a 3–2 away win against Derby County.

He scored a further two goals in the remaining four games of the season.

LuaLua received his first of 31 international caps in 2002, and scored seven goals in an eleven-year international career.

He represented his national team at four Africa Cup of Nations tournaments.

LuaLua is also known for setting up the LuaLua Foundation, which provides care for orphans in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and for being a patron for the Haslar Visitors Group.

His brother Kazenga, and cousins Trésor Kandol and Yannick Bolasie, all became footballers as well.

LuaLua's goalscoring form continued to the beginning of the 2002–03 season when he scored three goals in his first four games.

Tougher competition for a first-team place meant that LuaLua made only 22 appearances in this season.

In January 2003, LuaLua urged Robson to rotate the squad, saying, "I think I deserve a chance now, as do many of the lads on the fringes of the team. Although some people might have the idea that those of us not in the team like sitting on the bench and getting paid good money, nothing could be further from the truth. I'm not in this for the money, I want to play for the first team and show what I can do on a regular basis."

LuaLua also spent much of the beginning of the 2003–04 season on the bench and in November 2003, complained about his lack of first-team football and indicated that he would consider leaving Newcastle.

In the Newcastle Chronicle, Robson responded, saying he would not take advice from a player about how to manage the side: "How dare he say this? I run this football club... LuaLua has been a pretty poor professional about all this. What he should do is keep his mouth shut and get out there and do what he is paid for."

In the end, he made 88 league and cup appearances for Newcastle, scoring nine goals, having started 21 games and made 67 appearances as a substitute.

In February 2004, after returning from the 2004 African Cup of Nations, he joined Portsmouth on a three-month loan deal with a view to a permanent deal at the end of the season.

LuaLua scored on his debut for Portsmouth in a 4–3 away defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in February 2004.