Fantastic. Lovely to get that off the books.

I like this one. Much better than being held to ransom by Real for Morata. Maybe this will teach them a lesson -- they miss out on a payday, are unable to spend that money, and now have a pissed asset on their hands.

(http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/40516483)

Just have to post this for shits & giggles. United inquired on a 16yo Canadian midfielder.

(https://www.thestar.com/sports/soccer/2017/07....html)

I have my doubts with Lukaku, would have preferred Morata. But hope Lukaku proves me wrong.

Buggle wrote:

I like this one. Much better than being held to ransom by Real for Morata. Maybe this will teach them a lesson -- they miss out on a payday, are unable to spend that money, and now have a pissed asset on their hands.

(http://www.bbc.com/sport/football/40516483)

I agree about refusing to being held to ransom by Real Madrid, but I have to say I'm a bit sorry for Morata, as the player seemed to be really willing to come to United and prove himself. Now he is the victim of Florentino Perez's games, unfortunately.
However, I like the fact Real are now in a situation they need to sell two attackers and not just one, if they want to purchase Mbappe. They already needed to sell one from Bale, Ronaldo or Benzema, but now they also must see what to do with Morata, who wants to play as a starter or to be sold. The problem is - who will pay then as much money as they wanted from United for Morata??? Maybe PSG, maybe City, maybe Chelsea...

If the choise was between Morata, Lukaku and Bellotti, then it's maybe the best to buy Lukaku, as he is already accustomed to playing in England.

However, I was hoping that we would invest more money in someone like Bale or Neymar, while trusting Martial and Rashford for the position of a number 9.
Anyway, I knew it was not really possible, as Mourinho prefers to have a Drogba type of player upfront.

I just know that Lukaku will score a load of goals next season.

Now let's take Fabinho and also a right winger, to solve our most pressing issues.

Afterwards, we would need to sell several players and maybe add one or two until the end of transfer window, depending on lots of factors.

Duncan1 wrote:

I'm hearing Rooney has signed a two year contract with Everton.

This is the best solution for everyone, as Rooney returns to his loving club, United takes his enormous wages off the bill and creates space for someone younger, while Everton gets a very experienced and an (still) excellent player for free. I think that in Everton, Rooney might again find some motivation to start hitting the net. Who knows, if he re-discovers that fire inside, he might still play a good season or two. Hopefully he will play as a starter, which is crucial for him to stay fit.

Anyway, he was not good enough for United, so it was a good move to send him back to Everton. Even better if this helps us to get Lukaku and make Chelsea and Conte quite pissed off :)

gerkop wrote:

I have my doubts with Lukaku, would have preferred Morata. But hope Lukaku proves me wrong.

The more I think about it the more I think I prefer Lukaku. He's proven, he's scored 20+ in the Premier League for the past 3 seasons for an average team, we might never know how Morata would have got on, you never know, he could have struggled.

Nemanja77 wrote:

United takes his enormous wages off the bill

I have my suspicions about that. He had a year left on his contract didn't he, I doubt he'd take a huge pay cut to leave. I bet we'll end up paying something like half his wages for the remaining year of his contract so that he's not out of pocket.

Duncan1 wrote:

gerkop wrote:

I have my doubts with Lukaku, would have preferred Morata. But hope Lukaku proves me wrong.

The more I think about it the more I think I prefer Lukaku. He's proven, he's scored 20+ in the Premier League for the past 3 seasons for an average team, we might never know how Morata would have got on, you never know, he could have struggled.

He's a good striker, but I'm not a fan. Everton is an above average team and he is good on the counter but maybe not so much connecting play during slower attacks. We don't counter nearly as much and I think he might not be that brilliant. Of the strikers we're linked with Lukaku is the most underwhelming one for me. Maybe because I don't know enough to compare him to Belotti for example, but for me Lukaku is a risk. I don't see him dominating the league, but I can see him fail.

I'd much rather see United spend another 60m and get Mbappe.

Duncan1 wrote:

Nemanja77 wrote:

United takes his enormous wages off the bill

I have my suspicions about that. He had a year left on his contract didn't he, I doubt he'd take a huge pay cut to leave. I bet we'll end up paying something like half his wages for the remaining year of his contract so that he's not out of pocket.

If that's the case, it would be too much from our side. I hope we are not that desperate to send him elsewhere just to get rid of half of his wages. Who knows, maybe it was among Everton's conditions in selling Lukaku.

He's a good striker, but I'm not a fan. Everton is an above average team and he is good on the counter but maybe not so much connecting play during slower attacks. We don't counter nearly as much and I think he might not be that brilliant. Of the strikers we're linked with Lukaku is the most underwhelming one for me. Maybe because I don't know enough to compare him to Belotti for example, but for me Lukaku is a risk. I don't see him dominating the league, but I can see him fail.

About Lukaku, I would firstly like to see some official news, as things might change overnight.

He is a type of striker that Mourinho likes, someone who is both strong and fast, someone with a brilliant sense for finishing who can score both with his feet and head, who can be a handful for defenders and receive/defend the ball well, therefore almost a complete package upfront.

Then, as you said he is good on a counter, while Mou likes to hit his opponents that way, so they fit each other quite well.

At the end, Lukaku is one of the few players who managed to score a hattrick against United, so gotta respect that (even if it was the last game of the season).

However, as I said, I would have preferred spending money on wingers and develop Martial and Rashford as strikers, but I guess that was never going to happen with Jose'.

I'd much rather see United spend another 60m and get Mbappe.

If Mbappe wanted to come to United, we would have already bought him, as money is not our problem.

2 years remaining

The thing is that I don't think Lukaku is that great overall. For me we have a forward line-up that is strong, but that could use improvement somewhere. Doesn't matter whether it's out wide or up top. I think Lukaku is one of those strikers who will get you 20-25 goals, but won't improve the rest of the team and create that much himself. The great thing about guys like Ronaldo and Messi is that they score a shitload and create as well. Both with their quality and their passing. Mbappe seems the same. Lukaku on the other hand.. I don't think he is capable of that.

I do hope that it's a plot by Everton to force Chelseas hand or smth and we're after Morata or someone else...

He would fit the Mourinho template, but I'm not a fan of that template. I would like him to change his template to be more like what we want/expect.

chuksi wrote:

The thing is that I don't think Lukaku is that great overall. For me we have a forward line-up that is strong, but that could use improvement somewhere. Doesn't matter whether it's out wide or up top. I think Lukaku is one of those strikers who will get you 20-25 goals, but won't improve the rest of the team and create that much himself. The great thing about guys like Ronaldo and Messi is that they score a shitload and create as well. Both with their quality and their passing. Mbappe seems the same. Lukaku on the other hand.. I don't think he is capable of that.

I do hope that it's a plot by Everton to force Chelseas hand or smth and we're after Morata or someone else...

He would fit the Mourinho template, but I'm not a fan of that template. I would like him to change his template to be more like what we want/expect.

I understand what you are saying and somewhat agree.

However, I am wondering whether Morata would be much better than Lukaku all-in-all, when you consider both creating and scoring.

I think Mourinho mainly wants his striker to be a scoring machine, yet someone who can draw two defenders with him and let the creative force of his team-mates do its part.

We have enough creative players already, but we need someone who can put the ball in the net, and/or to draw enough attention of the defenders, in order to make the job easier for the rest of our players when they find themselves in good positions.

I think/hope this can work well, either with Morata or Lukaku, with the latter being physically stronger and more accustomed to battling with EPL defenders, while the former is a bit more sophisticated and might bring more to team-play.

Of course I would also prefer Mbappe, but it seems impossible so we must choose from what is available. If Real Madrid want to play their games, then it's a good move to draw out of Morata talks and get Lukaku.

I'd have liked Mbappe over Lukaku, but that's about it.

Lukaku still have like 5-6 years of prime age left and he's proven in the PL, not at all a bad buy if it's happening!

I agree that I'd rather see Mbappe too.

What Lukaku offers in pure finishing, heading and strength is enough for me to be happy though.

He might never do the amazing passes and dribbles that Zlatan is capable of, but he can score goals and he can play the simple passes. To be fair, we need the goals more than passes.

We have enough creative players already, but we need someone who can put the ball in the net, and/or to draw enough attention of the defenders, in order to make the job easier for the rest of our players when they find themselves in good positions.

That can never be true IMO :).

IMO creativity is also about when and which runs to make and how to help your teammates by making runs to draw defenders away. Is Lukaku good at making decoy runs and creating space for his teammates? I'm not totally sure. I fear that during slower attacks he'll struggle to link play and that will hurt us. IMO his control and passing aren't up to the level we need from a top striker.

All in all I have my doubts about him. He might be good, but IMO he doesn't dominate games enough and I don't think it's a good deal at 75m.

I've heard that Rooney is asking United to pay him a kind of pay-off fee, in order to leave.

If this is true, it's not a nicest thing to do.

We are already sending him off to a free and after all the money he's earned at United and everything this club has given him, he really could have avoided asking for more money.

Is it your money?

He earned EVERY PENNY in club as goal recorder, captain and part of team which made United this big, fat, famous and rich. He did more for club than club for him, money is irrelevant, as you see now in era of monster transfers and week wage for passable players in PL. Why in hell would he forgive anything to the club!? Because they buy him, use him, squeeze him and spit him back to Everton? Love story by Manchester United as new plastic club practice.

End of story.

Dr_Koma wrote:

Is it your money?

He earned EVERY PENNY in club as goal recorder, captain and part of team which made United this big, fat, famous and rich. He did more for club than club for him, money is irrelevant, as you see now in era of monster transfers and week wage for passable players in PL. Why in hell would he forgive anything to the club!? Because they buy him, use him, squeeze him and spit him back to Everton? Love story by Manchester United as new plastic club practice.

End of story.

I don't even know if it's true, but if I was him, I wouldn't really ask the club for a pay-off fee of 5-6mil pounds, after earning tens (or hundreds) of millions. It would be classless, so I hope he didn't really do that.

Anyway, I guess it all depends on the circumstances in which he left. If it was him wanting to leave, then it's pointless to ask a goodbye fee, so frankly I think/hope it wasn't even the case.

However, I don't think he did more for the club than vice-versa and I don't even want to see it this way. Both gave a lot to each other, so maybe now is the time to end the story in the best possible way.

Edit: I almost forgot. Welcome :)