---
title: "Manchester United: Romelu Lukaku never a United centre forward, according to Phil Neville"
canonical: "https://www.footballtransfertavern.com/manchester-united-romelu-lukaku-never-a-united-centre-forward-according-to-phil-neville/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Stephan Georgiou"
section: "Features"
published: "2019-08-09T13:20:15Z"
modified: "2019-08-09T13:20:15Z"
---

# Manchester United: Romelu Lukaku never a United centre forward, according to Phil Neville

**Former Manchester United defender Phil Neville has claimed that Romelu Lukaku was never the right person to deliver success to the club, following the Belgian’s move to Inter Milan on the final day of the transfer window.**

Lukaku joined [Inter](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/49146040) for £74m on a five-year deal, ending a two-year spell at United in which he failed to follow up a [27-goal](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/romelu-lukaku/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/96341/plus/0?saison=2017&verein=&liga=&wettbewerb=&pos=&trainer_id=) campaign with likewise success in his most recent season for the Red Devils.

A relatively lowly tally of [15](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/romelu-lukaku/leistungsdatendetails/spieler/96341/plus/0?saison=2018&verein=&liga=&wettbewerb=&pos=&trainer_id=) epitomised the poor season the club endured as they stumbled towards a [sixth-placed](https://www.skysports.com/premier-league-table/2018) finish in the Premier League.

Neville claims he was never of the opinion that Lukaku was the right fit for United despite a promising first year at Old Trafford – though backed the striker to be amongst the goals for his new team in Serie A.

Speaking to PA Sport, he said (via [Goal](https://www.goal.com/en/news/lukaku-was-never-right-for-man-utd-neville-not-surprised-to/y0xm0g80evtb1g4v9oqpffdnf)): “He started well, didn’t he? I’ll be honest with you, I never felt as if he was a United centre forward. That was my feeling.

“But he started well, then obviously he lost a little bit of confidence and then found it difficult to get back up to form.

“I think there was always that feeling of was he fit enough? And was his style suited to playing football for Manchester United? That was my question.

“He’ll always score goals wherever he goes. He’ll score goals for Inter.

“But the way you want to play, you’ve got to fit the right people on the bus and Romelu Lukaku was never that person.”

Neville is not the only former United man to speak out in a negative fashion in recent weeks, with former teammate [Teddy Sheringham](https://talksport.com/football/579862/manchester-united-news-teddy-sheringham-romelu-lukaku/) also critical of Lukaku’s style not fitting in with United’s own.

And coming from the kinds of names that know about having the kind of [success](https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/phil-neville/erfolge/spieler/3404) Lukaku has not been able to achieve at Manchester United, perhaps his lack of goals last season should come as no surprise.