Former Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku has admitted that he is disappointed that one thing did not fall in place for him while he was at Old Trafford.
Romelu Lukaku, who is currently with Serie A side Napoli, was a marquee signing for ex-Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho after Manchester United landed him from Everton.
The Red Devils paid an initial transfer fee of £75m for the 33-year-old Belgian striker, including agreeing to a further £15m in add-ons in 2017.
Lukaku spent two seasons at Old Trafford and the former Chelsea and Everton forward netted 42 times in 96 matches for the Red Devils.
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Romelu Lukaku on his dynamic with Paul Pogba at Man Utd and why it fell short for them together
Romelu Lukaku arrived at Manchester United a year after the Red Devils had broken the then-world record transfer fee to sign midfielder Paul Pogba from Juventus.
United parted ways with an initial eye-watering £89m and agreed to a further £4.5m to bring Paul Pogba back to Old Trafford during Jose Mourinho’s reign.
Speaking to CANAL+, Lukaku suggested that both he and Pogba played at Man Utd when he felt they were “too young” and both adopted ‘alpha’ mentalities.
“It was good, but I think we were too young at the time,” he said.
Lukaku added: “We are both alphas.
“And that’s something, one day I’d like to sit down with him and tell him, ‘If we had been together with the mentality we have today, it would have been dangerous.’
“Very dangerous. Really, really dangerous. It hurts; it hurts a lot.”
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United had their best Premier League finish in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era under Mourinho in 2018 before it was repeated under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Lukaku felt that the dominance of Manchester City under Pep Guardiola was one of the factors why both he and Paul Pogba struggled with having the right “maturity.”
“Manchester City were much stronger; they got 100 points in the Premier League,” he explained.
“But if you look at how we started that season — 12 points from 12, and playing really well. 4–0 here, 4–0 there, 4–0 again, bang, bang, bang.
“And then… with hindsight — I don’t want to start anything — but with hindsight, if we had been… if I had the shoulders, the maturity, and we walked into that dressing room at 27 or 28 years old, it would have been completely different.”
Lukaku would leave Old Trafford in 2019 and sign for Inter Milan, while Pogba made his exit from the Red Devils in 2022 and re-signed for Serie A side Juventus.
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