Lukaku - transfer speculation | Gone

[finneh]

Totally against accomodating to Inter with a loan. They can fcuk off and rot if they cannot afford to pay a lump sum transfee fee upfront. Let them go into the new season with a disgrunted Icardi then. Inter and Real Madrid are the last clubs in the world whom we should show any tinge of accomodation after being incredibly unrealisic and rigid in our past negotiation.

Considering how Real have handled James that's clearly not the case. A loan can be a sensible option where the player isn't part of the managers plans, but at the same time no interested club can pay the entire fee up front at that time.

With Lukaku this is a no brainer. United have £250m sat in the bank so clearly do not need he cash immediately. Conversely any interested party doesn't have the finances (or ability with FFP) to fund the deal in the normal fashion.

Overall a deal similar to £15m up front and £60m after a 2 year loan would be a very good deal all round. United don't risk Lukaku devaluing to the tune of £30m after another mediocre season as second choice, whilst Inter get a good striker who'll do much better in the Italian league at a payment plan that suits their budget.

 

[kouroux]

What's so appealing for a player like him to play in Serie A ? Defenses are tighter and there is even less space to express yourself. That is without even mentioning the recurring issues with racism. I'd understand if we were talking about playing in Spain or Germany.

 

[damageinc.]

What's so appealing for a player like him to play in Serie A ? Defenses are tighter and there is even less space to express yourself. That is without even mentioning the recurring issues with racism. I'd understand if we were talking about playing in Spain or Germany.

There’s no question that the quality of living in Italy is far better than England or Germany in any sense (especially when you are millionaire like a football player), no question. Lukaku himself have always said that his dream was playing in Serie A one day becouse he loved the league when he was a kid (Adriano was one of his idols) and loves Italy. Btw to your knowledge he has also his brother playing in Italy (Lazio) and the racism “problem” is well amplified by the media just to discredit the league, Serie A is also full of foreigner players maybe even more than Epl

 

[kouroux]

There’s no question that the quality of living in Italy is far better than England or Germany in any sense (especially when you are millionaire like a football player), no question. Lukaku himself have always said that his dream was playing in Serie A one day becouse he loved the league when he was a kid (Adriano was one of his idols) and loves Italy. Btw to your knowledge he has also his brother playing in Italy (Lazio) and the racism “problem” is well amplified by the media just to discredit the league, Serie A is also full of foreigner players maybe even more than Epl

I ain't buying that, media doesn't need to discredit the league, it does the job by itself very fine. Serie A is full of foreigners but definitely not more black players than in the PL (as it is the important point in racism issue and not just being a foreigner or not). Besides the football has gotten significantly worse since the days he was watching it. Juventus outrageously dominates while failing over and over in Europe.

 

[damageinc.]

I ain't buying that, media doesn't need to discredit the league, it does the job by itself very fine. Serie A is full of foreigners but definitely not more black players than in the PL (as it is the important point in racism issue and not just being a foreigner or not). Besides the football has gotten significantly worse since the days he was watching it. Juventus outrageously dominates while failing over and over in Europe.

Racist cases happened in England too. The fact that black players in England are more is based on the fact that England has had colonies over the centuries and had imported massively thousands of people from Africa, that’s why you see at least half of english players black (not discussing here the colonialism phenomenon and how bad influenced in so many ways the world)
In Italy is a totally different thing, the immigration factor from Africa is newer and that’s why you still see more whites than blacks today (but we’ll end up like Germany for sure), but there are so many blacks anyway
And to answer to your statement about the level of Serie A: it’s growing year after year, if you look at all the past seasons the results of Epl and Serie A in Champions League are really similar (as ranking proves)

 

[kouroux]

Racist cases happened in England too. The fact that black players in England are more is based on the fact that England has had colonies over the centuries and had imported massively thousands of people from Africa, that’s why you see at least half of english players black (not discussing here the colonialism phenomenon and how bad influenced in so many ways the world)
In Italy is a totally different thing, the immigration factor from Africa is newer and that’s why you still see more whites than blacks today (but we’ll end up like Germany for sure), but there are so many blacks anyway

I know all of that, thank you

 

[GledTheRed]

Pack your bags dickhead! Go stink somewhere else out and still have the opinion you're a world beater.

 

[damageinc.]

I know all of that, thank you

And then if you already know this obvious fact how can you even imagine to make a silly comparasion between who has more black players in the leagues? Think about... following this thought maybe he should join the mediocre Ligue 1 becouse now there are almost more black players than whites playing there (thanks to their evil past of colonialism, and actually the French are still influencing badly the African continent). No sense

 

[kouroux]

And then if you already know this obvious fact how can you even imagine to a silly comparasion between who has more black players in the leagues? Think about... following this thought maybe he should join the mediocre Ligue 1 becouse now there are almost more black players than whites playing there. No sense

I don't understand what you mean by that. There are better leagues than the one in Italy, if many elements are taken into account.

 

[Denis' cuff]

And then if you already know this obvious fact how can you even imagine to make a silly comparasion between who has more black players in the leagues? Think about... following this thought maybe he should join the mediocre Ligue 1 becouse now there are almost more black players than whites playing there (thanks to their evil past of colonialism, and actually the French are still influencing badly the African continent). No sense

Good lord. Where do you even begin?

 

[DutchSerb]

They really need to push getting Skriniar involved in this deal. Would absolutely love to have him here.

 

[damageinc.]

I don't understand what you mean by that. There are better leagues than the one in Italy, if many elements are taken into account.

You better read more carefully again and then you'll get that I answered in that sentence about your racism argument vs. blacks

About competitiveness and the measure of "leagues":
I don't get which are the elements that you are referring to to measure the strenght and make classifications of who has the better league…. in the first sentence you just put the CL results as element and I told you that Italy and England (for example) have similar stats and ranking in the last 5 years at least (2018/19 season excluded)

Btw the top players are not interested about these kind of arguments, they choose the project of the club, how they could be protagonist there and then of course the money. PSG is the classic example.

Manchester United now is losing all his fashion and worldwide appeal achieved under Sir Alex, nowdays the best players like Pogba or Lukaku are desperately trying to leave the club… money is not the only parameter as you see becouse we all know that United is still a really rich club

 

[devilish]

There’s no question that the quality of living in Italy is far better than England or Germany in any sense (especially when you are millionaire like a football player), no question. Lukaku himself have always said that his dream was playing in Serie A one day becouse he loved the league when he was a kid (Adriano was one of his idols) and loves Italy. Btw to your knowledge he has also his brother playing in Italy (Lazio) and the racism “problem” is well amplified by the media just to discredit the league, Serie A is also full of foreigner players maybe even more than Epl

Italy is a better country for anyone rich to live in then the UK. However if Lukaku think he's heading to a resort then he's deeply mistaken. In the UK football is a hobby, something to enjoy after work. In Italy football is life and people can get intrusive and nasty very fast. Batistuta would tell you that attitudes would shift significantly between one game and another. One moment you're a hero, the other moment you're a piece of shit. We're talking about Batigol here, someone whose revered at Fiorentina more then Cantona is for us. Lukaku would be lucky to be treated anywhere as good as that.

That attitude is shared by the clubs as well. First of all, working in Italy is not easy. Many employees like to think they own their employees and then treat them like serfs. I never lived in Italy but I travel there regularly and have friends across the entire country. Working in Italy is not nice at all. Regarding football, 2-3 bad games can be enough for the entire team to be uprooted from their home town and sent to a 'ritiro' which is basically the equivalent of Rocky 'shed' during Rocky 4 movie. No wonder why both Vialli and Zola had both commented about the great health work-life balance the EPL offers. At Chelsea they could finally afford losing a game without waiting for 'retribution'.

Regarding racism Inter are nowhere near to lets say Lazio but don't think its anywhere at par to the EPL clubs. Also Inter has a history of being the most disorganised team in the Serie A. Its not unusual for them to buy players only to suddenly fall in love with them. If they can treat the likes of Baggio like shit then imagine what they would do with Lukaku. Conte is not someone to mess with either. If he feels that Lukaku is not carrying his weight then he'll kick his butt.

Finally the EPL is a notch or two better then the Serie A at the moment. Having said that, the Serie A remains one of the most tactical leagues in the world. Which means if Lukaku think he can get away with his usual second touch lucky, then he should think again. `

 

[red_john]

Im all for Lukaku to be sold but we have to sign a striker to replace him. Rashford, Martial, Sanchez (TBC), Lingard and James haven't got 20+ goals in them. We also can't expect Greenwood to come in and be a regular starter.

 

[Amir]

They really need to push getting Skriniar involved in this deal. Would absolutely love to have him here.

They won't do that as it would make little sense to weaken their backline in order to strengthen the attack...

 

[Hughie77]

He's pushing to get out isn't he, leave him go, get as much as we can, I'd take £65 million, get rid, he can eat as much pasta as needed then.

He's pissed he's not going to get regular starting , sell him and Get Another striker in Young and hungry but not for food, goals!

 

[damageinc.]

Italy is a better country for anyone rich to live in then the UK. However if Lukaku think he's heading to a resort then he's deeply mistaken. In the UK football is a hobby, something to enjoy after work. In Italy football is life and people can get intrusive and nasty very fast. Batistuta would tell you that attitudes would shift significantly between one game and another. One moment you're a hero, the other moment you're a piece of shit. We're talking about Batigol here, someone whose revered at Fiorentina more then Cantona is for us. Lukaku would be lucky to be treated anywhere as good as that.

That's true but not at all, in Milano you can walk on the streets without any problems or fans attacking you for an autograph or a pic every 30 seconds…. there's passion but a lot of respect. While in the centre-South of Italy is more like you said (even though I never heard Batistuta called piece of shit by his own fans)

That attitude is shared by the clubs as well. First of all, working in Italy is not easy. Many employees like to think they own their employees and then treat them like serfs. I never lived in Italy but I travel there regularly and have friends across the entire country. Working in Italy is not nice at all. Regarding football, 2-3 bad games can be enough for the entire team to be uprooted from their home town and sent to a 'ritiro' which is basically the equivalent of Rocky 'shed' during Rocky 4 movie. No wonder why both Vialli and Zola had both commented about the great health work-life balance the EPL offers. At Chelsea they could finally afford losing a game without waiting for 'retribution'.

Vialli and Zola lived in a different era as footballers in UK ('90s) than nowdays…. back in the day they had way lesser pressure I guess than the footballers of nowdays in EPL (which wasn't really that great as League at that time)

Regarding racism Inter are nowhere near to lets say Lazio but don't think its anywhere at par to the EPL clubs. Also Inter has a history of being the most disorganised team in the Serie A. Its not unusual for them to buy players only to suddenly fall in love with them. If they can treat the likes of Baggio like shit then imagine what they would do with Lukaku. Conte is not someone to mess with either. If he feels that Lukaku is not carrying his weight then he'll kick his butt.

Finally the EPL is a notch or two better then the Serie A at the moment. Having said that, the Serie A remains one of the most tactical leagues in the world. Which means if Lukaku think he can get away with his usual second touch lucky, then he should think again. `

Reading your comments it seems clear that you started following football in the '90s when Moratti was thinking that spending big could have been enough to stop the Juve/Milan domination/power (not alluding just to the 1998 scandal) of that time without having a leadership.... I assure you that Inter have been the first club in the country to have a top manager and revolutionating the way of managing football when Italo Allodi came with Angelo Moratti and everyone started to copy that model…. Nowdays with Suning is a totally different story you can clearly see that they want smart people to decide like Marotta and now with Conte also as manager…

 

[Catt]

They won't do that as it would make little sense to weaken their backline in order to strengthen the attack...

Then they need to cough up the money.

 

[devilish]

That's true but not at all, in Milano you can walk on the streets without any problems or fans attacking you for an autograph or a pic every 30 seconds…. there's passion but a lot of respect. While in the centre-South of Italy is more like you said (even though I never heard Batistuta called piece of shit by his own fans)

The North might be slightly better then the centre-South but they still expect you to perform. If you don't, then things can get nasty very fast. Just ask the likes of Rush, Pancev, Bergkamp and many others who failed to make an impact in the Serie A. Not to forget Balotelli whom fans loved to hate (sometimes for good reasons but his skin colour didn't help)

Vialli and Zola lived in a different era as footballers in UK ('90s) than nowdays…. back in the day they had way lesser pressure I guess than the footballers of nowdays in EPL (which wasn't really that great as League at that time)

Nah. The EPL is still the same in terms of a healthy work life balance. One can lose a game or two and still go out in the evening without any fear of fans facing you on the streets or the threat of a ritiro which are quite common in Italy but unheard off in the UK. Can you imagine if Jesse Lingard was a Juventus player and he made that sad of an excuse of a video or Rooney being caught wasted in some wedding?

Reading your comments it seems clear that you started following football in the '90s when Moratti was thinking that spending big could have been enough to stop the Juve/Milan domination/power (not alluding just to the 1998 scandal) of that time without having a leadership.... I assure you that Inter have been the first club in the country to have a top manager and revolutionating the way of managing football when Italo Allodi came with Angelo Moratti and everyone started to copy that model…. Nowdays with Suning is a totally different story you can clearly see that they want smart people to decide like Marotta and now with Conte also as manager…

[/QUOTE]

Inter are working hard to sort themselves. They brought in Marotta and now Conte as well. However Suning is hardly a football genius, old habits do die hard and Inter has a looong history of bad management and knee jerk reactions. It only takes a bad patch for Inter to accuse the 'Juventus' contingent of backstabbing them and promote 'loyal' people to their cause.

 

[kouroux]

You better read more carefully again and then you'll get that I answered in that sentence about your racism argument vs. blacks

About competitiveness and the measure of "leagues":
I don't get which are the elements that you are referring to to measure the strenght and make classifications of who has the better league…. in the first sentence you just put the CL results as element and I told you that Italy and England (for example) have similar stats and ranking in the last 5 years at least (2018/19 season excluded)

Btw the top players are not interested about these kind of arguments, they choose the project of the club, how they could be protagonist there and then of course the money. PSG is the classic example.

Manchester United now is losing all his fashion and worldwide appeal achieved under Sir Alex, nowdays the best players like Pogba or Lukaku are desperately trying to leave the club… money is not the only parameter as you see becouse we all know that United is still a really rich club

I still don't understand it but whatever.
Why are you talking United ? I said if he wants to leave then I don't understand the appeal Italy has over Spain and Germany (unless a club is ready to cough up the money for the wages otherwise the quality of football in Serie A isn't better)
You went on a tirade criticizing United when it wasn't even the subject of the discussion

 

[jackal&hyde]

I like him as a player but i don't think he fits to well with how Ole wants to play. If he wants to be a starter it might be best for him to leave. We could use the money to get someone like Dybala or Ben Yedder.

 

[giorno]

I still don't understand it but whatever.

Me too. Don't get where he's going with this either

But to answer your initial point re:racism. I don't think most players see that as a deal-breaker. It's horrible, but they're grown men, getting paid lots of money to play football in a top league. For the most part they can live with it, it seems

I said if he wants to leave then I don't understand the appeal Italy has over Spain and Germany (unless a club is ready to cough up the money for the wages otherwise the quality of football in Serie A isn't better)

Eh. Few clubs in Italy or Spain can pay more than Inter, and those aren't interested in him. Between Inter and say Valencia or Leipzig, the choice isn't that difficult to understand imho

 

[kouroux]

Me too. Don't get where he's going with this either

But to answer your initial point re:racism. I don't think most players see that as a deal-breaker. It's horrible, but they're grown men, getting paid lots of money to play football in a top league. For the most part they can live with it, it seems


Eh. Few clubs in Italy or Spain can pay more than Inter, and those aren't interested in him. Between Inter and say Valencia or Leipzig, the choice isn't that difficult to understand imho

You are right regarding the players getting over those instances. Lukaku however, seems sensitive to those issues (in reference to his upbringing) so we'll see how things evolve

 

[giorno]

You are right regarding the players getting over those instances. Lukaku however, seems sensitive to those issues (in reference to his upbringing) so we'll see how things evolve

It would come up, especially if people know this could unsettle him. Most of the time racist abuse in the stadiums has that specific purpose, because italian football fans are sociopaths

 

[The_Midfielder]

Sell Lukaku, buy Greizmann.. if possible..

 

[roseguy64]

I think people are missing a massive point here! Woodward is so slimy, he will probably sell Pogba and Lukaku after our transfer window has closed! Where do we stand then? Woodward is not bothered because he can report back to the Glazers and gloat look what I have made for you!
5 weeks left of the transfer window, and the only signing we have made is a substitute

That makes no sense.

 

[roseguy64]

Also, we won't see that dumb thumbs-up sign again.

The thumbs up that every player makes?

 

[roseguy64]

It's not a bad deal per se it just fecks up the cash flow for the club a bit.

The issue for us is other than Inter I don't think any club wants him that bad so we may never get a better chance to sell him for as much as now. I would probably ask for 30+40.

The issue is he praised Conte meaning Inter is the club most likely to sign him. There are other clubs interested. It's just Rom set his stalls out that it's either playing for Conte or he stays.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

The issue is he praised Conte meaning Inter is the club most likely to sign him. There are other clubs interested. It's just Rom set his stalls out that it's either playing for Conte or he stays.

Well he’s not wanted at at Utd. So if Inter don’t get their arse in gear, he can pop off somewhere.

It’s been presented as player power by some in the media. Yet this is a player the majority of the fan base want rid of, and is not a started under the manager. We want him gone - it’s not Inter or us, it’s Inter or anyone else who can stump up a reasonable transfer fee (which is where the problem is, as he’s not a top drawer striker). Couldn’t care less what Lukuku wants.

 

[haram]

Well he’s not wanted at at Utd. So if Inter don’t get their arse in gear, he can pop off somewhere.

It’s been presented as player power by some in the media. Yet this is a player the majority of the fan base want rid of, and is not a started under the manager. We want him gone - it’s not Inter or us, it’s Inter or anyone else who can stump up a reasonable transfer fee (which is where the problem is, as he’s not a top drawer striker). Couldn’t care less what Lukuku wants.

Except Lukaku has a contract and doesn’t have to leave if he doesn’t want to. People cry about player loyalty and then say things like this.

 

[Suv666]

After Lukaku's and his agents comments, pretty sure its a matter of when not if

 

[roseguy64]

It doesn't work like that. He wants to move to different league and Inter/Conte had a deal with him from long back. He has made his decision and he even made it publicly. There is no point for other clubs to try when he wants to play for Conte and Conte wants the player, unless Madrid, Barca, Bayern wants him.

Good. My point was made already. The clubs who could afford the price we want like PSG, Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern, Chelsea, Man City, Spurs and Liverpool for one reason or another wouldn't want him now or can't buy him.

We could accept less for him and that brings in a number of other clubs but he's already declared it for Inter so there's no competition.

 

[onemanarmy]

After Lukaku's and his agents comments, pretty sure its a matter of when not if

I'm pretty sure it will be announced as soon as he's back from the States.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

Except Lukaku has a contract and doesn’t have to leave if he doesn’t want to. People cry about player loyalty and then say things like this.

A player that has been so unprofessional with his pathetic fitness levels and openly courts other leagues/ clubs and managers. Couldn’t care less about him, he will be very quickly forgotten - he never had the attitude or application to play for Utd.

Players that show the right characteristics to play for the club will be respected by the fans and the fans will be loyal to them. Lukuku ticks none of these boxes.

 

[davidmichael]

They really need to push getting Skriniar involved in this deal. Would absolutely love to have him here.

I read a few times that Skriniar has no desire to leave Inter and they’re on the up whereas we’re in decline but I’d be all over us doing a swap deal with Inter where they get Lukaku and money and us getting Skriniar, if Ben Yedder is available for £40 million then we fix a replacement up top whilst getting a world class centre back in too.

 

[haram]

A player that has been so unprofessional with his pathetic fitness levels and openly courts other leagues/ clubs and managers. Couldn’t care less about him, he will be very quickly forgotten - he never had the attitude or application to play for Utd.

Players that show the right characteristics to play for the club will be respected by the fans and the fans will be loyal to them. Lukuku ticks none of these boxes.

You are wrong, but you can have your opinion.

 

[roseguy64]

I would be looking for balance first and foremost. And indeed goals and creativity from the right side attacker is something that we currently don't have and won't have if we go for a striker while Rashford even if he is far from perfect isn't actually far from Lukaku's league output despite playing a lot less and not always playing upfront. Now I assume that we have to choose, maybe we can go for a striker and a wide attacker, in that case I would be curious to know how much someone like Haller would cost because he would be a decent option from a profile standpoint.

You realise of course that Rashford played more than Lukaku last season and still scored less than him?

 

[JPRouve]

You realise of course that Rashford played more than Lukaku last season and still scored less than him?

Not as a striker, which is the point. As a striker in the league Rashford played 1720 minutes and contributed to 12 goals, Lukaku played 2130 minutes and contributed to 13 goals. I'm also not sure about the point that you are trying to make since I said that he wasn't far which is true and that I would prefer to bring a wide attacker. This post is about what I would do if Lukaku was sold.

 

[roseguy64]

Well he’s not wanted at at Utd. So if Inter don’t get their arse in gear, he can pop off somewhere.

It’s been presented as player power by some in the media. Yet this is a player the majority of the fan base want rid of, and is not a started under the manager. We want him gone - it’s not Inter or us, it’s Inter or anyone else who can stump up a reasonable transfer fee (which is where the problem is, as he’s not a top drawer striker). Couldn’t care less what Lukuku wants.

All reports point to us not actively pushing him out. It's him pushing the deal not us. The club seems fine for him to stay.

 

[roseguy64]

Not as a striker, which is the point. As a striker in the league Rashford played 1720 minutes and contributed to 12 goals, Lukaku played 2130 minutes and contributed to 13 goals. I'm also not sure about the point that you are trying to make since I said that he wasn't far which is true and that I would prefer to bring a wide attacker. This post is about what I would do if Lukaku was sold.

I understood your point. I was just disagreeing with a part of it in that Rashford didn't do better than a Lukaku in terrible form for most of the season.

Additionally, positions are irrelevant here because Rashford had more shots per game than Lukaku. Looking at just the league, Rashford had 49 shots inside the box whereas Lukaku had 52. Not a massive difference.