Romelu Lukaku has revealed the attitude towards him at Manchester United made him think about leaving the club shortly after he had joined.
The Belgian striker joined Inter Milan in a £74m move this summer, just two years after his Old Trafford switch from Everton.
And Lukaku has revealed he felt that he and teammate Paul Pogba were scapegoated for United’s problems.
In an interview with New York Times, as sourced by Manchester Evening News, Lukaku explained how he told Pogba about his impending exit during the pre-season tour of Australia this summer.
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“I took him [Pogba] aside and told him I was done with Manchester United. There was a feeling that Pogba and I were guilty of the fall of Manchester United,” he said.
Remarkably, Lukaku also discussed how he imagined leaving Old Trafford as soon as after his Premier League debut against West Ham as he felt there was a negative reaction, despite scoring two goals.
“From the beginning it was a ‘Yes, but…’. I scored in the European Super Cup and they said, ‘Yes, but he got another one wrong’.
“When I first started out in the Premier League, I scored against West Ham and they said, ‘Yeah, but…’. Since then I imagined how it would feel to leave the club. One year at United erases the previous eight.”
United lost a prolific goalscorer in Lukaku; the Belgian has scored 12 Serie A goals already for Antonio Conte’s Inter this season.
But Lukaku struck an unhappy figure at Old Trafford and there was no benefit in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer keeping him against his will, especially as he wasn’t really suited the United manager’s style of play.
Lukaku’s exit did ,however, leave the hole in the squad that is still to be filled after no striker was signed in the summer to replace him. We hope the Reds can bring in an attacking reinforcement in January to strengthen Solskjaer’s options up front.
