He hit a purple patch in 2019/2020 - e.g. that Watford goal - where he managed 17 league goals. He hasn’t come close since.
Moments of brilliance once in a blue moon (Watford and the Brugge goal are class) aside, my main memory of him throughout his time here has been one of severe frustration. Only during the games behind closed doors during covid, under Ole, did I believe that he might have finally found his feet.
You mention compilations, for an attacking player that is in his 9th year at United it is surprisingly short. Yes he is technically gifted, but he is a total disappointment and I struggle to remember anything decent about him bar the odd silky goal.
Went to Sevilla and was shite. We should have flogged him to Spurs when they were supposedly looking a few years ago.
Big shame.
Well this is obviously a different argument you are now presenting. Nobody will deny that his entire spell here is ultimately a disappointment. A claim that he hasn't shown silk/skill since his debut is just false though. He peaked in 19/20 where he scored 20 goals. That doesn't mean everything he did before that was rubbish. He scored 17 goals in 16/17 for example. He was the shining light in our attack. He scored a big goal away at Wolfsburg in the CL, although we still ultimately went out in that game because we were poor. He tried his best and scored two goals away at West Ham in the final game at Upton Park to try and get us into the CL, but we ultimately lost 3-2 because we were just poor. He scored a big winner in the 90th minute in the FA Cup Semi-Final, which he made himself, picking the ball up just inside their half, carrying it, playing a one-two with Herrera and then finishing beautifully.
After that, there were a number of other good spells. Lukaku was bought and he was benched, but he came off the bench every game to score or make something happen. Some beautiful goals too. Fought his way back into the team. Came on and scored the winner vs Spurs. The following season, it was a running narrative on the caf that 'ironically, Martial and Pogba are the ones keeping Jose in a job'. He had some good form in the early part of the season, winners against Newcastle and Everton. Ole came in and he started well. Great goal against Cardiff in the first game. Took the ball from the halfway line against Fulham and scored after that. He faded towards the end of the season, as did the team, but as we know, the following season, he was our top scorer.
The season after that, he didn't hit the same level, did his cruciate, and has never really looked the same since then. Injuries began to plague him, and even when fit, he couldn't glide as he used to. If his United career ended in 2020 - he'd have been a firm fan favourite. And it would have still been a 4 year career, not a 4 month spell. I'm not saying he has been an overall success by any stretch, but to say he's done nothing since his debut is false, and he was generally one of our bigger threats for a few years. He should have gone a few years back, although that is largely with hindsight. There's a reason why a decision was made to keep him too, and that is because of all the things I had mentioned above that he had showed, while still being only 24 at the time.There was cause for optimism, which has since been revealed as unfounded.
And a 20 goal season isn't a 'purple patch'. It's a great season. Especially when he was a non-penalty taker, although he took and missed one (I remember we had PK troubles first half of the season, with Pogba, Rashford and Martial all missing).
