During the summer of 2017, transfer fees starting to become astronomical. Neymar was the catalyst for that with his near £200 million move from Barcelona to PSG, however, another fee that was far larger than it should have been was Romelu Lukaku’s £75 million move from Goodison Park to Old Trafford.
| #EFC can confirm that a deal has been agreed with @ManUtd for the transfer of @RomeluLukaku9: https://t.co/Szkbrbgd1J. pic.twitter.com/fXdtEsw0eR
— Everton (@Everton) 10 July 2017
By the time Everton tweeted the official news that the Belgian had been sold to Manchester United, the news that he was on his way to Manchester was already widely circulated. As far as the Toffees were concerned, the striker had gone for the money and had already started to resent their Premier League record goalscorer, who notched 68 goals in the league for the club.
Part of the reason the sale of the Belgian was so easy to take was because the Bluenoses welcomed back a former favourite to Merseyside in the form of ex-England captain Wayne Rooney. In hindsight, expecting Rooney to replace the goals of Lukaku was a bold expectation, and the Toffees will have known that their ex-striker was never going to fire for them in the way that Lukaku has for United.
You can read the Everton fans’ reaction to the Lukaku sale here:
Can we now just all agree to never buy or allow a player to have raiola as an agent? His greedy ways just inject disrespect into players.
— Liam (@lwrgwladys) July 10, 2017
Close the door behind you fella
— Soppy Toffee (@SoppyToffee) July 10, 2017
Can that be the end of it now?
— Mark Palfreyman (@PalfreymanM) July 10, 2017
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Bolingoli pic.twitter.com/ILBBT0cmkb
— Jim Cannon (@EvilMonkey1701) 10 July 2017
https://twitter.com/joesworld1878/status/884450836671234048
https://twitter.com/TANK69_/status/884474611651547145
https://twitter.com/CameronSSweeney/status/884465436116615168
— Jamie Howard (@TheJamieHoward) 10 July 2017
The Everton fans were far from upset to see Lukaku go given the way the transfer saga went and whilst they’ve struggled to replace his goals, they wouldn’t take him back.
