He had options.
Romelu Lukaku wasn’t short of options this summer as the Belgian looked to leave Goodison Park. As a move to Old Trafford edged closer, Chelsea almost looked like they would hijack the deal with a last minute bid that matched United’s offer of £75m.
Mourinho allowed Lukaku to leave Chelsea in 2014, but it appears that the relationship between both men is absolutely fine because the former West Brom and Everton striker has revealed that it was Mourinho – not his close friend Paul Pogba – that swung his decision to join Manchester United over the champions.
In an interview with MUTV, he said:
“We were just on holiday together, I spoke with Paul a lot, obviously. We spent our holiday together and he said: “What do you want to do?” It was the conversation I had with the manager that really convinced me the most, the plans and how he wanted to rebuild the club and he wanted me to be part of it. I am grateful for the chance.”
This being said, it appeared that the French international did have some sway in convincing Lukaku to join him in Manchester.
“I told him that I was thinking a lot about signing for United, something was telling me [to do it]. I live near Manchester so, when I was coming to the city [centre], I would drive past Old Trafford and ask my mates what they thought. Me and Paul, we’d go to the city to have dinner and he’d drive past Old Trafford on purpose,” Lukaku said.
Since joining the club, Lukaku has been impressed by his teammates and the standards that he’s expected to reach at United.
“The first thing I noticed when I came to the meeting room on my first day with the team, the manager had a meeting and you just felt something special. Loads of the players were saying that this group is quite special. We’re all young, hungry players. In training, everyone wants to be the best, everyone wants to win, so to be part of a team like that is great. Players like Marcus [Rashford], Jesse [Lingard], Micki [Henrikh Mkhitaryan], Juan [Mata], Ander [Herrera] – players like that are hungry to win trophies and it’s time for us.”
United fans will be hoping that there’s plenty more of this when they start their Premier League campaign against west Ham on August 13th.
