Romelu Lukaku | United confirm deal subject to medical and personal terms

[NYAS]

If Zlatan stays there's no way we'll get him too. Chelsea almost seems certain.

Yeah I can't see Lukaku and Zlatan being in the same squad. I just don't know that there's a better Zlatan replacement out there. When we talk about 'Mourinho strikers' that could be available, only Lukaku, Icardi and Belotti stand out, and the Belgian is the most proven one of all.

I'm starting to get the feeling Jose will handle our striker situation in a way we don't expect. Whether that's trusting young talents such as Rashford or Martial (or getting Dolberg/Andre Silva), or signing Griezmann and playing him up top on his own (or as a false 9)...it'll be interesting.

 

[GM K]

It is way too early to form that judgement about Pogba. Bale was also 'poor' in his first season at Madrid. Modric also didn't justify his price during his first season at the same club. Drogba didn't perform to justify his price tag during his first two seasons at Chelsea. Chelsea fans even booed him at some point in time particularly for his diving antics. Patrice Evra had a near traumatic first season at Old Trafford. Mascherano was poor at West Ham and early in his Liverpool career (at least in the domestic competitions). Michael Essien had a poor first season at Chelsea. Pires was poor during his debut season at Arsenal. But we all know how those guys all turned out.

Pogba had a hectic summer. He has played more games than almost any other player in Europe. His team mates have missed almost 10 sitters he created. He has hit the bar over 8 times. And both fans and the media have hounded him for the price on his head.

Let's see how he fares in the next few seasons before we conclude he isn't worth the money.

 

[ZIDANE]

Lukaku is clearly a good player and he scores goals. Sorry to sound a bit Wenger but the price of his transfer is looking a bit mental but that's the times we're in I guess. We need a goal scorer so I hope we're looking into it at least.

It is way too early to form that judgement about Pogba. Bale was also 'poor' in his first season at Madrid. Modric also didn't justify his price during his first season at the same club. Drogba didn't perform to justify his price tag during his first two seasons at Chelsea. Chelsea fans even booed him at some point in time particularly for his diving antics. Patrice Evra had a near traumatic first season at Old Trafford. Mascherano was poor at West Ham and early in his Liverpool career (at least in the domestic competitions). Michael Essien had a poor first season at Chelsea. Pires was poor during his debut season at Arsenal. But we all know how those guys all turned out.

Pogba had a hectic summer. He has played more games than almost any other player in Europe. His team mates have missed almost 10 sitters he created. He has hit the bar over 8 times. And both fans and the media have hounded him for the price on his head.

Let's see how he fares in the next few seasons before we conclude he isn't worth the money.

De Gea is probably the best example of a poor first season but clearly having the talent and becoming one of the best in his position.

That said, I think people are still justified in expecting more from Pogba. The problem with a record breaking price tag is that it is usually only so much for a finished or world class player. He has to deal with that. He'll come good especially when we have a team capable of scoring and balance in our midfielders.

 

[GM K]

Lukaku is available on a free transfer at the end of next season. There's no way he goes for 90 million. Everton would do well to get half that.

Hmnn. That's a very interesting perspective.

It's a no brainer then. If Everton puts Lukaku in the market for 45 million and he wants to join United, then there is more than a solid case for taking him over Griezmann who may cost close to 100 million.

 

[GM K]

Lukaku is clearly a good player and he scores goals. Sorry to sound a bit Wenger but the price of his transfer is looking a bit mental but that's the times we're in I guess. We need a goal scorer so I hope we're looking into it at least.



De Gea is probably the best example of a poor first season but clearly having the talent and becoming one of the best in his position.

That said, I think people are still justified in expecting more from Pogba. The problem with a record breaking price tag is that it is usually only so much for a finished or world class player. He has to deal with that. He'll come good especially when we have a team capable of scoring and balance in our midfielders.

I agree.

 

[Scholsey2004]

All If Lukaku costs 90 million, wouldn't it be better to get Griezemann then?

Arguably, but who would you describe as more a mourinho player, Lukaku or Griezmann? Id have said Lukaku. In fairness i've got a different theory of who we're going to sign every week.

 

[Von Mistelroum]

Are we seriously discussing Lukaku vs Griezmann? There's no competition there.

 

[SwansonsTache]

Are we seriously discussing Lukaku vs Griezmann? There's no competition there.

.....lukaku
martial.griez.mkhi
..pogba...fabinho

Make it happen Woody

 

[GM K]

Arguably, but who would you describe as more a mourinho player, Lukaku or Griezmann? Id have said Lukaku. In fairness i've got a different theory of who we're going to sign every week.

Most people would say Lukaku but Mourinho's history is not exactly that straightforward when it comes to his choice of strikers. At Porto he had Benni Macarthy at Chelsea he had Didier Drogba, at Inter he had Zlatan, Diego Milito and Samuel Eto, at Madrid he had Benzema and Higuain, then he had Costa during his second spell at Chelsea. Now he has Zlatan. That's an interesting mix of striking options typified mostly by Zlatan who is not exactly a pure battering ram but a mixture of strength, finesse and guile.

I think Jose will go for who he believes will fit into the DNA of the squad better and will bang in the goals more while trying to compensate for the person's weaknesses in other areas.

Let's not forget that he didn't exactly think Lukaku was good enough at Chelsea.

 

[DatGuyRich]

What a finish.

 

[DWelbz19]

Crunch time finisher.

 

[Devil may care]

I wonder what Manolas said/did, I've never seen him look so steamed.

 

[MyOnlySolskjaer]

Shit with his back to goal and no first touch.

 

[pocco]

Shit with his back to goal and no first touch.

Yeah i don't think it's those situations that people think he's a bit lacking. That's his bread and butter.

 

[Minkaro]

No jynx intended, but does he ever do it against the big teams? I don't watch him regularly, but have a feeling he is a bit of a flat-track bully. No?

If we say the "big teams" are Chelsea, Arsenal, City, Liverpool, Spurs and us, then he's got 14 goals in 48 league appearances against them, since moving to England. (This may be slightly wrong as I've only done a quick skim through and tallied up in my head).

Which means that 67 of his 81 league goals came across the "smaller" teams.

 

[LFC-Fans]

Football players prices have got me stumped. I don't know what a bargain/normal/overpriced anymore.

£100million for Lukaku and Barkley? A part of me thinks that's ridiculous, but then there's another part that's saying it's normal because of inflation and Tv rights.

Feck knows.

 

[Hawks2008]

I wouldn't want to pay a huge amount for him, but the amount of United fans turning their nose up at Lukaku reeks of arrogance. You'd think we were a champions league contender boasting the likes of Lewandowski, Suarez,

 

[shield]

Are Manchester United also interested in Lukaku? I thought Mourinho had himself sold him when he was at Chelsea thinking that he did not see much potential in him. Won't signing Lukaku be like admitting that he was wrong?

 

[Cheekiey]

Are Manchester United also interested in Lukaku? I thought Mourinho had himself sold him when he was at Chelsea thinking that he did not see much potential in him. Won't signing Lukaku be like admitting that he was wrong?

this has been discussed and explained numerous times

 

[Devil may care]

I wouldn't want to pay a huge amount for him, but the amount of United fans turning their nose up at Lukaku reeks of arrogance. You'd think we were a champions league contender boasting the likes of Lewandowski, Suarez,

It's not arrogance, I doubt there's any United fan that doesn't realize we are well behind Bayern and Barca right now, but there's some of us that just don't think spending £90M on Lukaku will ever see us get back level with them because it means you are basically putting the house on him and building around him.

 

[DWelbz19]

Are Manchester United also interested in Lukaku? I thought Mourinho had himself sold him when he was at Chelsea thinking that he did not see much potential in him. Won't signing Lukaku be like admitting that he was wrong?

The brief explanation is Lukaku wanted the move, and says that Mourinho wasn't 'at fault' for the deal or instigating it in any way. He holds on bad blood in relation to either Chelsea or Mourinho.

 

[jetlee]

I know I will sound a bit picky but for me this signing can determine whether Mourinho prioritises short term aims at United also, or planning for the medium to longer term.
I don't have doubts that with Lukaku's signing we can be competing for the title (provided we get 1 or 2 good signings for the problematic positions), but for me he seems a bit too one-dimensional to our further aims.
To put it simple I can't see him leading the line for a team who have ambitions of progressing really far in the CL year after year. And he wouldn't be a short term fix with that sort of money outlay, and considering his age we would be banking on him to be the focal point of our attack for the next 6-8 years.
This for me outweighs the possible short-term gains however many goals he will score from now till the end of season.

 

[shield]

The brief explanation is Lukaku wanted the move, and says that Mourinho wasn't 'at fault' for the deal or instigating it in any way. He holds on bad blood in relation to either Chelsea or Mourinho.

Thanks for clearing that up. Must have missed that piece of information.

Good player. Would like him here. Think he would fit in better than Griezmann because he is a pure striker which is exactly what we need. We might have to do a lot of shuffling and moving if we want to accommodate Griezmann where as Lukaku would slot right in.

 

[Devil may care]

I know I will sound a bit picky but for me this signing can determine whether Mourinho prioritises short term aims at United also, or planning for the medium to longer term.
I don't have doubts that with Lukaku's signing we can be competing for the title (provided we get 1 or 2 good signings for the problematic positions), but for me he seems a bit too one-dimensional to our further aims.
To put it simple I can't see him leading the line for a team who have ambitions of progressing really far in the CL year after year. And he wouldn't be a short term fix with that sort of money outlay, and considering his age we would be banking on him to be the focal point of our attack for the next 6-8 years.
This for me outweighs the possible short-term gains however many goals he will score from now till the end of season.

This is exactly it, I don't want to see us tying our attack for the foreseeable future to him as I don't think his overall level is high enough to warrant it.

 

[YouOnlyLiveTwice]

He would have had about 30 goals in the PL for us this season if he had the same amount of shots as Zlatan. At least the stats are telling me that.

Something to think about.

 

[minoo-utd]

I wish we sign Lukaku, I want him over Grizman very much but unfortunately I don't think we will sign him.

 

[Nickosaur]

this has been discussed and explained numerous times

 

[Fracture90]

He would have had about 30 goals in the PL for us this season if he had the same amount of shots as Zlatan. At least the stats are telling me that.

Something to think about.

He is very clinical in front of goal, quick for his size, quite dominant in the air and able to create for himself.

Proper CF tbh, wouldn't mind us going for him this summer and considering his contract will be up in 2 years, price wouldn't be too insane.

 

[Francoruud]

Not a big fan of Lukaku but at this point, I think it's inevitable that Conte will ship Costa off for 100m+ in the summer and get Lukaku. He still has a lot lacking in his game imo and thinks he's better than he actually is but to his credit, he's a much better player this season than he was last season. I think he's even better in March 2017 than he was in October 2016. He seems to be getting rid of one of the biggest criticisms I had about him, which was him being a very streaky player (score a hattrick, follow it up with 1 goal in the next game, go scoreless for 6 games, score a brace, scoreless for the next 4 games, etc). Which is perhaps an indication that he's still young and still has a lot of potential. I just don't think we should be dealing with "potential" when we're targeting the CL next season.

Also, it's insane for anyone to think he'll cost 90m or anything crazy like that. After this season, he has ONE year left on his contract. No chance he costs more than 40m.

EDIT: I've confirmed and it actually runs out in 2019, not 2018. Still don't think he's going to cost anywhere near 90m. 65m at best.

He is very clinical in front of goal, quick for his size, quite dominant in the air and able to create for himself.

Proper CF tbh, wouldn't mind us going for him this summer and considering his contract will be up in 2 years, price wouldn't be too insane.

No, he isn't. He's very poor in the air for a guy his size.

 

[Bogga]

I love when newspapers use the word "considering"...

How does that work? Do they call the club, ask to speak to someone in charge, ask the question if there's any news regarding transfers and the one they're talking to admit that they're actually considering making a bid.

Someone got the number to Manchester United? I wanna know which players we're considering...

 

[Acole9]

Chelsea would be an awful move for Barkley.

 

[GazTheLegend]

I wouldn't want to pay a huge amount for him, but the amount of United fans turning their nose up at Lukaku reeks of arrogance. You'd think we were a champions league contender boasting the likes of Lewandowski, Suarez,

This is a godawful post.

We are boasting the likes of Pogba, de Gea, Martial and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

We boasted the likes of Falcao and Di Maria.

We could and will add superstar names to our team in the summer. Why is it arrogance to debate whether Lukaku will actually bring us to another level?

 

[Hawks2008]

This is a godawful post.

We are boasting the likes of Pogba, de Gea, Martial and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

We boasted the likes of Falcao and Di Maria.

We could and will add superstar names to our team in the summer. Why is it arrogance to debate whether Lukaku will actually bring us to another level?

I don't see why you're bragging about Falcao and Di Maria, big names but they were failures for us and are now doing much better at their respective clubs. For all these big name signings we're not even PL contenders and you don't think the current top scorer at a team like Everton wouldn't take us to that level? Especially when we have struggled to score on many occasions this season?

 

[JPRouve]

There is something about the way he plays the game I don't like, he reminds me Negredo and Gomis.

 

[The red panther]

This is exactly it, I don't want to see us tying our attack for the foreseeable future to him as I don't think his overall level is high enough to warrant it.

I don't understand this view at all.

He is 23 years old and top goal scorer in the league. He has been playing at top level from the age of 16 and every year he has only been progressing and getting better. In my opnion he has all the tools to be one of the best strikers in the world and can perfectly lead the line for a top club.

 

[Devil may care]

I don't understand this view at all.

He is 23 years old and top goal scorer in the league. He has been playing at top level from the age of 16 and every year he has only been progressing and getting better. In my opnion he has all the tools to be one of the best strikers in the world and can perfectly lead the line for a top club.

I don't know what's hard to understand, I don't think his all round game is very good and don't want to see that type of striker as our focal point for the next 7 or 8 years because if we buy him that's it, we are stuck playing him as our #9 in a rigid set-up for the foreseeable future, I don't want that to happen.

 

[whatwha]

I don't understand this view at all.

He is 23 years old and top goal scorer in the league. He has been playing at top level from the age of 16 and every year he has only been progressing and getting better. In my opnion he has all the tools to be one of the best strikers in the world and can perfectly lead the line for a top club.

Does that mean he'll start fizzing out at age 28 like Rooney did?

 

[LouisDanGaal]

I don't see why you're bragging about Falcao and Di Maria, big names but they were failures for us and are now doing much better at their respective clubs. For all these big name signings we're not even PL contenders and you don't think the current top scorer at a team like Everton wouldn't take us to that level? Especially when we have struggled to score on many occasions this season?

Di maria isn't. He might have played well in the first leg against barca but he is having a way below par season.

Probably not as well because we have Ibra who is a better player than lukaku.

 

[The red panther]

Does that mean he'll start fizzing out at age 28 like Rooney did?

I don't have a crystal ball, who knows, it is possible.

 

[The red panther]

I don't know what's hard to understand, I don't think his all round game is very good and don't want to see that type of striker as our focal point for the next 7 or 8 years because if we buy him that's it, we are stuck playing him as our #9 in a rigid set-up for the foreseeable future, I don't want that to happen.

What elements in his game don't you like and what type of striker would like to see as the focal point for our attack ?

I would love to have a setup with Griezmann and Lukaku as a striker partnership for United with Rashford as golden sub.