FC 25 88 Flashback Lukaku Player Review - Cop or Flop

Day number two of the NumeroFUT and EASports have dropped a brand new flashback SBC in the form of Romelu Lukaku. He’s had some somewhat minor upgrades across the board but is an overall of +4 on his most recent Team of the Week item. As I said, there are minor upgrades with +4s and 5s across the board but more notably, he has been given the PowerShot playstyle plus. But again no secondary playstyle+ which is quite disappointing as we have just come out of a promo that introduced it to then not have a single card released with it since.

But back onto Romelu. I’ve placed him front and center of the team alongside of pacey wingers in the hope that they can do the heavy lifting in terms of moving the ball quickly up the pitch with him ready to receive the ball and place it into the back of the net. As much as I do respect a striker with 88 pace, I just had that feeling that this stat would not reflect in-game, so I needed some pace alongside him to help on that front.

As much as I want to suggest going for the Hunter to boost up the shooting and pace, I just don’t think it will actually make a notable difference for the card. So I personally think the Engine is the better option here as it gives a light boost to Pace but more importantly boosts the Dribbling.

Here are the following segments to unlock the Flashback Lukaku SBC:

84-Rated Squad

Squad Rating: Min 84

# of players in squad: 11

Serie A

# of players from Serie A TIM

TOTW Players: Min 1

Squad Rating: Min 84

# of players in squad: 11

Top Form

TOTW Players: Min 1

Squad Rating: Min 84

# of players in squad: 11

85-Rated Squad

Squad Rating: Min 85

# of players in squad: 11

86-Rated Squad

Squad Rating: Min 86

# of players in squad: 11

So this SBC is coming in with 4 segments and a total cost of 140k to complete. Whilst at this stage of the game that isn’t a huge price, I can’t help but wonder if this card would be over half of that price if on the market. Another important note to consider is yesterday’s SBC of Pedro Neto came in at roughly the same price and that was an incredible item. So this Lukaku is going to have to really wow to get my vote. 

How did he perform in-game?

+ Shooting was always going to be relatively good with his high shot power and finishing. Though it’s worth noting he often felt a little slow to take the shot. But when he did he was absolutely clinical.

+ Strength is always the first thing you think of when it comes to Lukaku and with 97 strength he does not disappoint. He is rarely outmuscled when fighting through the defence or trying to win the ball back.

+ The positioning was also nice on this item as he often pushed forward ready to receive the ball in a space that he could blast it into the back of the net.

- Despite the big pace upgrade he still felt incredibly slow when sprinting with the ball. He was often caught up quite quickly.

- Dribbling was also quite frustrating as he moved like a truck. You’ll be best to pass the ball away rather than attempting to dribble around players.

Lukaku - Cop or Flop?

As I had anticipated, the pace on this card certainly didn’t wow me at all and often became a little bit of a hindrance in-game. I’ve always struggled with these more “physical” attackers as they don’t typically fit my playstyle. I also come back to my previous statement of comparing this SBC to yesterday’s in that they are roughly the same price but Pedro Neto absolutely clears this Lukaku item.

The cost of this SBC isn’t awful so if you are a Napoli fan or perhaps building a past and present that Lukaku would fit into then maybe he’s worth the pickup. But if you are looking for a competitive item, this ain’t it. Save your fodder for the next SBC.

Verdict = FLOP