[Slaford RED]

I discussed Lukaku with a customer of mine, who is a striker coach. He is currently working with the England set up and worked with Lukaku at Everton.

He said Lukaku "cant really hold the ball up and get involved with outfield play. His strengths are being able to turn a man in the box and shoot with both feet. Thats what £75m gets you nowadays. "

Why keep slagging him off, we are not playing to his strengths. In an attack minded team he would be a different player.

 

[Denis79]

It's so true it's a catch 22 situation

The Lukaku Paradox!

 

[kouroux]

Nah he probably does (I mean, he can't possibly be that stupid that he doesn't see that), he's just one of the people Mourinho won't criticize in public because he's got the "right attitude" or some bullshit. And the "right attitude" seems to be kissing Jose's ass at every opportunity.

He most definitely can be that stupid. Jose starts Matic and Lukaku over and over again despite their terrible performances. Honestly he's wired differently than most of us. I think he's seriously lost his mind

 

[Jean0987654321]

How does this guy keep playing? He is SO wildly out of form it is ridiculous. Please someone get to Mou and get this guy to bench him

 

[bosnian_red]

He's better than Chicharito. There's a place for him at a top club.

But he's not got the right qualities to be key for this United side. Plus he's in shocking form.

His place at a top club is on the bench and being used as a squad player at best. Never as a starter in big games. Never as a key player. Essentially like what Chicharito was for us, but without Chicharito's knack for big goals. So basically just an option to use in games we expect to dominate and to go 2 up top to give us more attacking power. He's a colossal waste of money and turning into one of the biggest flops ever for us given what we signed him to be compared to what his limitations as a player are.

 

[reddev3]

It's close enough, from what i remember he said "we use to have players up top like Cantona and Sheringham that would turn bad balls into good, now you have Lukaku that actually turns good balls into bad"

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Worst transfer business we've ever done.

Such a complete waste of money.

 

[Schneckerl]

Worst transfer business we've ever done.

Such a complete waste of money.

I think Sanchez is worse business

 

[VorZakone]

He looks such a different player compared to Lukaku 16/17. It is absolutely unacceptable to be so long out of form. A few weeks, sure, can happen to anyone. But it's mid-December.

 

[m1tch]

Can only imagine a new manager not being interested in him, given his limitations. Wonder if he knows how lucky he is that Jose shows so much faith in him?

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

I think Sanchez is worse business

For a second I forgot about him.

Good arguments can be made for both. Sadly.

 

[Loublaze]

Worst transfer business we've ever done.

Such a complete waste of money.

Sanchez? Di Maria? Falcao? Bebe? Fellaini? Lukaku was our top scorer last season don't forget

 

[el3mel]

Sanchez? Di Maria? Falcao? Bebe? Fellaini? Lukaku was our top scorer last season don't forget

Di Maria was the top assist leader in United in his season as well. We lost only 15m in him because he was a top player who didn't settle here.

Lukaku costed the most, offered the least and will make us struggle to cope half of his fee once he fecks off. Yeah from every aspect he's one of our worst signings ever, arguably the worst.

 

[sunama]

His excuse is he has too much muscle, yet still gets outfought nearly every duel he has. Tragedy of a footballer

I actually believe the Lukaku is quite weak. He is big, but he is a weak guy, which means he gets out-muscled by men who are a lot lighter than him.
He needs to lose weight and use agility and speed to his advantage. Physical strength does not seem to be his forte.

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Sanchez? Di Maria? Falcao? Bebe? Fellaini? Lukaku was our top scorer last season don't forget

Di Maria was sold and we broke even(financially).

Falcao didn't cost anything bar wages. Bebe was awful, but minimal cost relatively. Fellaini has been indifferent.

Sanchez could be argued considered the outlay spent on him.

I don't know if we'll come close to recouping the fee we paid for Lukaku.

He's been absolutely terrible this season. Doesn't even resemble a footballer out there. One of the worst seasons I've seen a player have for us and he's been a first XI player all season.

 

[sunama]

How does this guy keep playing? He is SO wildly out of form it is ridiculous. Please someone get to Mou and get this guy to bench him

Like LVG did with Rooney, Jose will get sacked by showing so much loyalty to crap players (Lukaku, Matic).

 

[sunama]

He's been absolutely terrible this season. [Lukaku] Doesn't even resemble a footballer out there. One of the worst seasons I've seen a player have for us and he's been a first XI player all season.

This is a very good point you make.
He doesn't even look like a professional soccer player. Notice I used the word soccer and not football, because he does actually look like an American football player.

 

[luke511]

Everton would buy him back for £50 million no question. I reckon he'd go back as well.

 

[snk123]

@GifLord Can you please post the slow motion replay of the offside goal? Lukaku's kick was 4 seconds slower than the ball

 

[Adisa]

Everton would buy him back for £50 million no question. I reckon he'd go back as well.

They have a better player playing up front for them.

 

[Foxbatt]

Now I have seen almost everything. He dummies himself.

 

[Henrik Larsson]

Juve paid 90 million euro for a soon to be 29 year old Higuain, whos not even close to being in the top 5 strikers of the last ten years. Tottenham Hotspur paid 22 fecking million for a guy called Vincent Janssen because he scored a good amount of goals in the Eredivise once between November and May in one season.

All of this happened a couple of years ago as well, when the market arguably wasn't even as inflated. If we can't recoup at least 90% of what we paid for a 25 year old with an excellent goalscoring record for both clubs and country, then frankly we deserve to implode as a club and spend our next 20 years dreaming of another league win.

 

[Foxbatt]

He's better than Chicharito. There's a place for him at a top club.

But he's not got the right qualities to be key for this United side. Plus he's in shocking form.

He is not better than Chicharito by any stretch of the imagination. Chicharito knows how to play. His ball control is much better and he harries defenders and his movements off the ball is much better than Lukaku's.

 

[Loublaze]

Di Maria was the top assist leader in United in his season as well. We lost only 15m in him because he was a top player who didn't settle here.

Lukaku costed the most, offered the least and will make us struggle to cope half of his fee once he fecks off. Yeah from every aspect he's one of our worst signings ever, arguably the worst.

Pogba was our top assist provider last season and it doesn't mean jack to some posters here. You haven't been a united supporter for very long if you think Lukaku is arguably our worst signing ever.

 

[el3mel]

Juve paid 90 million euro for a soon to be 29 year old Higuain, whos not even close to being in the top 5 strikers of the last ten years. Tottenham Hotspur paid 22 fecking million for a guy called Vincent Janssen because he scored a good amount of goals in the Eredivise once between November and May in one season.

All of this happened a couple of years ago as well, when the market arguably wasn't even as inflated. If we can't recoup at least 90% of what we paid for a 25 year old with an excellent goalscoring record for both clubs and country, then frankly we deserve to implode as a club and spend our next 20 years dreaming of another league win.

Higuain was a great business for Juve. Was worth every penny for them, did his job brilliantly for them and they offloaded him to Milan to get Bonucci back after getting Ronaldo. You can't question that.

 

[Mourinhonista]

I think he's a 20 goals a season striker at a club like United. But we can't play it long all the time and hope he can bring others into play while he's beeing surrounded by three or four opponents. 75 mil. is too much for him, but under a different coach i think it could work to mount a serious title challenge with him leading the attack. We've seen it in glimpses, when he's running at the defence at full speed, good things will happen, see the goal we got against Pool.

 

[Loublaze]

He is not better than Chicharito by any stretch of the imagination. Chicharito knows how to play. His ball control is much better and he harries defenders and his movements off the ball is much better than Lukaku's.

Chicharito's control of the ball is not one of his finest attributes and it was something a lot of United fans even here on the CAF criticized him for. I remember he struggled with hold up play and never shined when he started games. He was great as a super sub against tired legs. His sheer amount of goals scored coming of the bench speaks for itself. He seldom performed off the jump.

 

[el3mel]

Pogba was our top assist provider last season and it doesn't mean jack to some posters here. You haven't been a united supporter for very long if you think Lukaku is arguably our worst signing ever.

For the value of the money we paid for him and the fact we'll never cope the fee for him yeah he's up there. You can't compare him to Falcao who was on loan and we didn't spend much at all for him. Sanchez was on trade, Di Maria was a top player and we only lost 15m in him. Let's say Pogba flopped and got sold, I bet we'll sell him for even more than what we paid for him thanks to his statue and inflated market.

Lukaku costed a lot, is a terrible player, and no big club is going to take him from us. Terrible business.

 

[Raees]

Anyone notice how Salah hold up play was more muscular and consistent than big Kak?

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Pogba was our top assist provider last season and it doesn't mean jack to some posters here. You haven't been a united supporter for very long if you think Lukaku is arguably our worst signing ever.

Not signing.

Worst transfer business conducted.

We've signed worse players than Lukaku. But when you consider what we paid for Lukaku and how he's performed(which is a bad word, because he's not really doing any performing out there) this season, it's not really far-fetched.

 

[Henrik Larsson]

Higuain was a great business for Juve. Was worth every penny for them, did his job brilliantly for them and they offloaded him to Milan to get Bonucci back after getting Ronaldo. You can't question that.

I agree and can see why they paid the money for Higuain. Part of it was also a premium for robbing Napoli of their top scorer and therefore pretty much laying a monopoly on another league win. On top of it they had the Pogba money coming in which inflated the Higuain deal.

This wasn't my point at all though, obviously.

 

[VorZakone]

Anyone notice how Salah hold up play was more muscular and consistent than big Kak?

Salah is mobile, better balanced, turns faster. Strength isn't that important in football, if you move like an oil tanker it's easy to take the ball off you.

 

[Loublaze]

For the value of the money we paid for him and the fact we'll never cope the fee for him yeah he's up there. You can't compare him to Falcao who was on loan and we didn't spend much at all for him. Sanchez was on trade, Di Maria was a top player and we only lost 15m in him. Let's say Pogba flopped and got sold, I bet we'll sell him for even more than what we paid for him thanks to his statue and inflated market.

Lukaku costed a lot, is a terrible player, and no big club is going to take him from us. Terrible business.

What does Falcao being on loan have anything to do with anything? There was going to be a permanent deal on the table if he performed well during his loan. That was a stipulation the loan agreement. 'We only lost 15M on him'. That makes it seem like you already have a set future figure in your mind on what we'll 'lose' on Lukaku and its going to be more than 15M. Weird. You have no idea who'd be interested in Lukaku so don't present imaginations as cold hard facts.

 

[Šjor Bepo]

Anyone notice how Salah hold up play was more muscular and consistent than big Kak?

His game with back to goal is immense though, most likely the best in the league. Just shows you that being muscular and tall is more disadvantage then it is advantage.

 

[Dembeza]

Feck knows if this is a real quote but it's 100% true.

It’s real, I watched it live.

 

[el3mel]

What does Falcao being on loan have anything to do with anything? There was going to be a permanent deal on the table if he performed well during his loan. That was a stipulation the loan agreement. 'We only lost 15M on him'. That makes it seem like you already have a set future figure in your mind on what we'll 'lose' on Lukaku and its going to be more than 15M. Weird. You have no idea who'd be interested in Lukaku so don't present imaginations as cold hard facts.

That's called business, which you seem to struggle to get the point of it. From playing point of view, yeah Falcao, Bastian, Bebe and Sanchez did worse than him, but from business point of view, Lukaku tops them, because these didn't cost much to come here, and when (if in case of Sanchez) got/get offloaded, the club wouldn't lose much in them, so they were just bad in terms of their form on the pitch. Didn't cost the club much.

Lukaku was a terrible business. You paid 75+15m for him, proved to be a terrible player, no big club is going to buy him from you as he's shite so you're going to lose loads when he fecks off. He's not a top player everyone want like Di Maria. Best he'll leave for will be Everton or Serie A top 4 team, and in both ways we're going to lose a lot in this deal. Calculating what we spend, how he performed and how much we're going to lose in him, Lukaku becomes easily one of our transfer business we ever made in our history. We invested so much in a shite player that we'll struggle to cope half of what we invested in him when he fecks off. You can't question the investment in Pogba as we'll easily cope the fee paid for him thanks to his statue if he flopped, you can't question getting Falcao on loan or Sanchez on trade and trying your luck without spending much for them, but sure as hell you can question investing 75m in such a limited striker with no resale value to any top club.

 

[UncleBob]

Mourinho's insistance on playing Lukaku and Matic, not because of their form but because of the player types they are and how they are needed for his system to work, is one of many reasons why i believe Mourinho will never turn things around at United

 

[Mailo]

Anyone notice how Salah hold up play was more muscular and consistent than big Kak?

HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA

 

[Adnan]

His technical ability is pretty bad and we have afew players like him who are shit on the ball. So our current plight shouldn't come as too much of a surprise because even our manager was happy with how Lukaku played at the end of the game.

 

[UncleBob]

That's called business, which you seem to struggle to get the point. From playing point of view, yeah Falcao, Bastian, Bebe and Sanchez did worse than him, but from business point of view, Lukaku tops them, because these didn't cost much to come here, and when (if in case of Sanchez) got/get offloaded, the club wouldn't lose much in them, so they were just bad in terms of their form on the pitch. Didn't cost the club much.

The consequences of Sanchez can't be measured by only looking at Sanchez and his costs (sign on fee + wages), the bigger picture is what it does to our wage structure. Hint: David De Gea.

Sanchez has set the bar for other top players and what they can demand, and that's going to cost us a boatload of money