Romelu Lukaku

[Deleted]

www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/new-surroundings-bring-new-challenges-for-romelu-lukaku-and-wayne-rooney-d3qdzx00c

here are some transfers that just fit; fit the players, fit the clubs, fit all parties and, on the face of it, Romelu Lukaku moving from Everton to Manchester United and Wayne Rooney returning to Goodison Park fit perfectly.

Sometimes perfection turns out to be too cosy, but amid all the pros, I can only see two potential cons, that Lukaku will be playing at a different level, at Champions League level, and that Rooney’s legs might have gone.

Is Lukaku the finished article? Nowhere near. Is he improving? Definitely. He is a striker with an exceptional goals ratio who will change United’s style, allowing them to stretch the opposition, giving midfield players an opportunity to hit the ball into space and wingers a target to aim at. Zlatan Ibrahimovic was brilliant, but they will now be able to get on the other side of the back four.

In the same way that Didier Drogba’s presence for Chelsea allowed Frank Lampard to drift into space near goal, I expect Paul Pogba to have a much more effective second season at Old Trafford. Lukaku’s touch could be better and there are games when he just does enough, but working under José Mourinho will be the kick that he needs and the older he gets the more he’ll learn how to use his physicality.

I see the Belgian as part of a jigsaw for Mourinho. His goals and natural strength will win games, but it takes more than one player to claim a title and they’re not there yet.

He is more than worth his initial £75 million fee, though. Chelsea’s long pursuit of Lukaku is evidence of his stature, even if their half-hearted bid for their former player suggests that not everybody at the club was as convinced as Antonio Conte, the manager.

At 31, Rooney needs to feel excited and nervous again. That was my age when I moved to Marseilles and although I’m not comparing myself to Wayne, having that sense of challenge, that spring in your step, is crucial. He’s going to be playing regularly again, something he hasn’t really done for 18 months, and a different kind of spotlight, pressure and attention will be on him. He needs to have the pre-season of his life.

He will require help, too. Rooney has lost pace, which is normal for a player in his 30s, and he’s very different now from 2009-12, when he was absolutely outstanding, but in this youthful and energetic Everton team which Ronald Koeman is assembling, he can provide the nous, the experience of winning big games.

Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Teddy Sheringham and plenty of others have played on; like them, Wayne must develop his footballing intelligence.

[Deleted]

www.espn.co.uk/football/club/manchester-united/360/blog/post/3155699/romelu-lukaku-arrival-a-boost-to-manchester-united-premier-league-title-hopes

Romelu Lukaku has talked of Manchester United wanting to be "the dominant force" again, and he will be a key factor in helping the club climb their way back to the top. It's a long climb, for United finished sixth in the Premier League last season, a massive 24 points behind champions Chelsea, the team Lukaku rejected in favour of a move to Old Trafford.

United will pay £75 million plus add-ons for him because they hope Lukaku will score with the consistency that Zlatan Ibrahimovic did last season. Marcus Rashford is a sublime talent and hugely popular among fans, but he didn't score in the league between September and April. Other forward players also failed to weigh in with sufficient goals.

Jose Mourinho needs goals from a team that found them hard to come by last season. United managed only 54 in 38 games; each of the five teams above them got at least 77. Even Everton, who finished one below, managed 62, 25 of which came from Lukaku, who finished runner-up to Harry Kane in the Golden Boot race.

In a United We Stand fanzine poll, 30 percent thought United will be champions, 27 percent think they'll finish second, and 29 percent predicted third. The rest plumped for fourth and fifth, so none of the respondents thought things wouldn't improve. That caution contrasts the mood last year ahead of Mourinho's first season, when the vast majority forecast a first- or second-place finish. People at the club were surprised by that confidence and, at the time, wondered whether to inject a note of reality.

Lukaku is expected to score from the start; ideally against Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup and then the opening League game against West Ham, against whom he netted nine times in his four seasons at Everton. But he will also need help from a squad that has not been as threatening as it should have been, despite being stocked with creative talent.

Other players have been bought to score the goals that win the title in the past, most recently Robin van Persie in 2012. The Dutch striker did as expected, as United won the league back from neighbours City, but even he went nine league games without scoring at one point, though Wayne Rooney was there to step up to the plate then.

Over-reliance on one striker can cause issues. Ruud van Nistelrooy was a goal machine, but there were serious, senior voices in the dressing room who believed that his selfish streak held back United, as well as the progress of those around him, which included Rooney, Diego Forlan, Giuseppe Rossi, Louis Saha and Cristiano Ronaldo.

Sir Alex Ferguson conceded that they had a point, and that United's greatest sides have always had two, three or even four forwards weighing in with significant goals. The 1998-99 treble winners, for example, had Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke, Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Cole joined for a record British fee from Newcastle in 1995 with a reputation as a goal poacher, with an 81 percent strike rate. Such was the escalation in transfer fees that the £6 million United paid -- they also sent Keith Gillespie to Newcastle -- was almost twice what Roy Keane had cost only 18 months earlier. But Ferguson knew that he wanted to do the deal straightaway, which was no surprise: Cole was the most prolific goalscorer in England and had scored 41 goals the previous season. Upon arriving at United, though, the new signing was shocked by what happened after only a few days in training.

"[Assistant manager Brian Kidd] came up to me and welcomed me to his United," said Cole, now a United ambassador. "Then he said, 'If you think that 40 goals a season at this club is good enough, then you are wrong.' Then he walked off. I couldn't believe it, but I realised where he was coming from.

"Goals weren't enough at United. You had to become a team player, the complete footballer. That's what killed Ruud van Nistelrooy's United career. He scored -- that's all. That started to annoy the players. United need more than a goalscorer."

Cole adjusted his game accordingly. "Some of those players were far more gifted than me. I knew that I'd have to knock my pipe out all day long if I was going to win over the supporters. I can understand why so many expensive strikers failed at United because it's not easy being a striker at Old Trafford, it's daunting. Expectations are so high. You need confidence and peace of mind to come through."

Ibrahimovic was the finished article around which the team was organized, but at 24, Lukaku is the perfect age to develop into a group that includes Pogba (24), Rashford (19), Anthony Martial (21), Jesse Lingard (24), Eric Bailly (23), Luke Shaw (21) and Victor Lindelof (22). That's a core of players around the pitch with great potential, though some have realised it better than others to date.

All of a sudden, United look more youthful. Rooney, 31, and Ibrahimovic, 35, have departed, and only one player remains from the side that last won the Champions League in 2008: new club captain Michael Carrick, who turns 36 at the end of this month.

Like every English team, United are a long way from winning Europe's biggest competition at the moment, but with Lukaku's goals, the hope is that they can come much closer to winning the Premier League again.

[Deleted]

Viva Lukaku
Viva Lukaku
Could have been a blue
But he said fu*k you
VIVA LUKAKUUUU

#Mufc #REDROM

[Deleted]

Jul 11, 2017 14:14:52 GMT @cavelly2k said:

Viva Lukaku
Viva Lukaku
Could have been a blue
But he said fu*k you
VIVA LUKAKUUUU

#Mufc #REDROM

He was a blue 

[Deleted]

Jul 11, 2017 14:17:03 GMT @dedrevil said:

Jul 11, 2017 14:14:52 GMT @cavelly2k said:

Viva Lukaku
Viva Lukaku
Could have been a blue
But he said fu*k you
VIVA LUKAKUUUU

#Mufc #REDROM

He was a blue 

That was also my first thought. 

[Deleted]

Jul 11, 2017 14:14:52 GMT @cavelly2k said:

Viva Lukaku
Viva Lukaku
Could have been a blue
But he said fu*k you
VIVA LUKAKUUUU

#Mufc #REDROM

Change it to "Could have stayed a blue" and you're golden. 

[Bestie]

Jul 11, 2017 14:17:03 GMT @dedrevil said:

Jul 11, 2017 14:14:52 GMT @cavelly2k said:

Viva Lukaku
Viva Lukaku
Could have been a blue
But he said fu*k you
VIVA LUKAKUUUU

#Mufc #REDROM

He was a blue 

The 'Viva' song again? Weak.

[Deleted]

I didnt make it, don't shoot the messenger.

Also I believe the blue part is aimed at Chelsea. Duh.

[ScholesEvilTwin]

Jul 11, 2017 14:54:50 GMT Bestie said:

Jul 11, 2017 14:17:03 GMT @dedrevil said:

He was a blue 

The 'Viva' song again? Weak.

Viva Lukaku
Viva Lukaku
With his big black cock
Tucked in his sock
Hes coming after yoooooouuuu



Is one of the better ones ive seen elsewhere

[Sméagol]

[Deleted]

Jul 14, 2017 10:21:21 GMT Sméagol said:

As Martial furiously hits the dislike button.

[Deleted]

www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/man-utd-transfer-news-lukaku-13335723

Jose Mourinho identified Romelu Lukaku as Manchester United's new figurehead because of his 'target man' qualities which Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford lack.

Lukaku, 24, ended last season with 24 Premier League goals - just four behind Tottenham's Harry Kane - and United's highest scorer in the leaue was Zlatan Ibrahimovic on 17.

United managed a measly 54 league goals last term and drew 15 of their 38 fixtures as they finished sixth in a campaign which was salvaged by their Europa League triumph.

When asked why he earmarked Lukaku as Ibrahimovic's replacement, Mourinho stressed that United's striking alternatives Rashford and Martial did not possess a presence comparable with the Belgium international.

"He's not a player that participates a lot in the build-up," Mourinho said. "He's a player that normally plays in the last third and we had so many opponents, especially at Old Trafford, that decide to defend in their low block, in their defensive third, closing spaces, playing with lots of defensive players, defensive midfield players.

"And we had in Zlatan that target man, but by his qualities he was dropping back, he was coming in between the lines and participating.

"But for the characteristics of the Premier League we need a target man, which is not Martial, which is not Rashford, we have options, good options, good players. But the target man, the clear nine, the one that is comfortable to play in the box and the defensive line, we thought Romelu would be a good option for us."

Mourinho did not intervene during United's negotiations with Everton but did contact Lukaku shortly before his transfer was confirmed earlier this week to reassure him.

"I didn't negotiate, it was Mr Woodward who negotiated with Romelu, his agent and the Everton board," Mourinho added. "The only thing I did was to call him when the situation was almost there just to guarantee him that he would be an important player in my team.

"It is quite a great experience, the fact that we worked together already for a few months, during the time where I was at Chelsea, at Man United, he was at Everton and our relationship was always very close, in spite of it not working very well for us together. The relationship is good, he is polite, we have always kept a good feeling and now we are back together in a different moment.

"I told him and Lindelof on the day we started that they are very , very lucky to belong to such a group, not because they don't deserve it from a professional point of view because they did very well at Everton and Benfica.

"But because the group is a really special group and it is amazing for a player to change club and feel that the group is fantastic. I feel they will be here for a long time."

The United manager declined to compare Lukaku with his idol and Mourinho's former Chelsea marksman, Didier Drogba.

"I don't compare," Mourinho replied. "I don't compare at all. One had his history and this one is still in the beginning of his history. What he brings? Hopefully goals.

"He's the kind of player that everybody knows; that he's a striker, so we're not speaking about a multi-functional player or say that he can adapt or we can create doubts about positions on the pitch, he's a striker and normally strikers score goals.

"And the reason why he was so important and was difficult to get is what he did in the Premier League, because obviously there are other good strikers in football but the Premier League is a very specific habitat. A different habitat, normally they need some time to adapt and Lukaku plays in the Premier League for the last four or five seasons.

"So now he comes to a club with a different responsibility than Everton or West Bromwich Albion, and I think he comes in the right moment of his career because he is still a young player but still has years of experience with the Premier League and Belgium national team, it's now his first step into the Champions League competition, which was also his main motivation, so the fact we qualified for the Champions League maybe also played an important role."

[Chris]

Feel like Lukaku will go on a few game drought before finally scoring in a competitive game for us before going on a scoring spree. Hopefully I'm totally wrong about the drought.

[caino]

Jul 16, 2017 6:08:27 GMT Chris said:

Feel like Lukaku will go on a few game drought before finally scoring in a competitive game for us before going on a scoring spree. Hopefully I'm totally wrong about the drought.

think the same. seams like a player that needs to get match fit/sharp before firing. hopefully pre season will get him up to speed

[smithy2]

Jul 16, 2017 6:08:27 GMT Chris said:

Feel like Lukaku will go on a few game drought before finally scoring in a competitive game for us before going on a scoring spree. Hopefully I'm totally wrong about the drought.

Andy Cole did the same didn't he?