Romelu Lukaku explains why he and Pogba struggled at United
Manchester United have been home to some ferocious strikers in the past, but the position has been a weak spot in the squad in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era. The legendary Scottish manager famously signed Robin van Persie from Arsenal ahead of his final season, with the Dutchman
Manchester United have been home to some ferocious strikers in the past, but the position has been a weak spot in the squad in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era. The legendary Scottish manager famously signed Robin van Persie from Arsenal ahead of his final season, with the Dutchman subsequently powering the Red Devils to the league title.
Sir Alex had always built his teams around goal-hungry No. 9s, but the Red Devils have mostly struggled to find a capable goalscorer in the past decade. The English giants perhaps missed a trick by failing to sign Harry Kane in the summer of 2023, before his move to Bayern Munich .
United, instead, opted for Rasmus Hojlund , who struggled to impress at Old Trafford and joined Napoli on loan last summer before the move was made permanent earlier this month. INEOS brought in Benjamin Sesko as the Dane’s replacement last year, and the young Slovenian has enjoyed a decent debut campaign, scoring 12 goals.
The last No. 9 who truly captured the imagination of the Old Trafford faithful was Zlatan Ibrahimovic , who arrived in the summer of 2016. The iconic Swede’s replacement at the Theatre of Dreams, Romelu Lukaku, has now outlined why he failed to get going with United.
Speaking to Canal +, Lukaku insisted that both he and Paul Pogba joined United too early in their careers. He said: “It was good, but I think we were too young at the time. 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.”
United spent £89 million to bring Pogba back to Old Trafford from Juventus in the summer of 2016, before investing £75 million in Lukaku the following year. The Belgian striker spent two seasons at Old Trafford, scoring 42 goals and registering 12 assists in 96 games, before leaving for Inter Milan in 2019.
Pogba’s stay at Old Trafford did not live up to expectations either. United had hoped that their former academy graduate would become the cornerstone of their new project, but the Frenchman only won the Europa League and the EFL Cup during his time at the club. Pogba eventually left in 2022 as a free agent to return to Turin.
