Romelu Lukaku returned to action last weekend in the Manchester Derby and although he helped draw a penalty, he couldn’t stop Man U from losing the game after being dominated by Pep Guardiola’s City side.
Lukaku joined Man U last year for a reported £75 million fee after four seasons with Everton. The Belgium striker’s arrival was greeted with a lot of fanfare and with him up top it was thought that Man U would finally be back to winning ways after so many years of being out of the title race.
With him, Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford, Man U had a wealth of attacking talent, that on paper, looks as though it could beat any team. Despite that array of talent, United finished 19 points off City last year.
Overall, Man U had the talent but ultimately flattered to deceive which can sum up Romelu Lukaku as a player.
The United striker scored 16 goals last season in the league and as of yet, hasn’t become the striker Mourinho would’ve hoped for. Technically, he’s not at the level you’d expect of someone with his goalscoring record; his build-up play isn’t great and in truth, his movement off the ball isn’t fantastic either.
This season, the Belgium international has struggled to hit any semblance of form and has so far only managed to score four goals in the league and has recently gone on a run of six games without a goal in the league.
Worryingly for Lukaku, with him being out due to a hamstring injury, Mourinho has chosen to play Alexis Sanchez up front in the lone striker role and although Man U got hammered at the weekend, last week against Juventus and even Bournemouth before that, United looked much more fluid and dangerous.
Sanchez hasn’t been in great form like Lukaku but the Chilean gives Man so much more movement up front and has also allowed Anthony Martial to blossom on the left. Considering his age and heavy price tag, Lukaku still has time to prove himself but if he doesn’t perform to a much higher level he could find his place in the team under serious threat.
