Can we keep £90m Lukaku on the bench?

Andy_Cole

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Not saying we should start him. Don’t think he’s the type of player for our current tactics.

I actually think he’s very useful from the bench. A bit of an Eden Dzecko maybe scoring important goals for us off the bench.

Can we do that though, considering how much we bought him for? Or if he can’t start do we need to cash in on him?

I suppose if we look at Arnautovic he’d be £35m, which is a lot cheaper option off the bench. Liverpool managed to get in Shakiri for peanuts. Or start promoting youth.
 
Of course? he’s just another player. While Rashford is in red hot form he’s first choice.
 
He's too ambitious for that. Either he starts frequently or he'll find another club.
 
If he is happy with it, I don't see why not.

Doesn't matter what he initially cost, it is what we would recoup that is important. No point in having a player you could get £90m for on the bench.
 
Cost shouldn't be a factor when determining whether a player should be on the bench or not.

At the moment he's not good enough and deserves to be exactly where he is.

I think we'll start looking for alternatives if he doesn't start performing soon.
 
He isn't the type to be content on the bench. In his career at his old clubs he's always looked for the next step up. Probably thinks he'd be wanted by other top clubs like Juve atm
 
Greck said:
He isn't the type to be content on the bench. In his career at his old clubs he's always looked for the next step up. Probably thinks he'd be wanted by other top clubs like Juve atm
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Imagine the tantrums Ronaldo would throw seeing Lukaku try and control a pass. :lol:
 
Dzeko was a far better player than lukaku. More proven at all levels, performed great in big games, was excellent technically, but was criminally underused at City and should've easily started alongside Aguero for them. Anyway.

Ive said it from the start, Lukaku isnt good enough of a player from a technical point to excel at a club like United. Way too limited. If he was still at Chelsea and didnt have this huge transfer fee, there wouldnt be any arguments about it. He should be used like how Berba was used (while being an inferior player of course, but we are much worse than we were at that time so it balances), a squad player coming in for the added goal threat from the start in easier games and then being an impact player for harder games.
Will he be happy with that role? We'll see I guess, but he should never be more than that.
 
On one side of the coin there will obviously be pressure from the hierarchy if Lukaku continues to feature sporadically.You cant spend 75+ Million ,plus one who's likely on over 100K a week,for a player of his calibre to continually sit on the bench whoever the manager is.They,the owners,would want to see that huge outlay have a purpose.

But the flipside is the fact Lukaku hasn't ,of yet, warranted a consistent inclusion in the side. Rashford is outperforming him in every aspect, with assists,goals and workrate.
And that will rightly be the side Ole,as manager,will focus his importance on.It's all about balance and team cohesion.

Personally ,for me,what it boils down to is the fact Lukaku has largely been a underwhelming signing.He hasn't progressed,not helped by Jose's usage of him granted,as much as some suggested.While other fans have consistently been critical of his all round game before he joined us a couple of seasons back.
His limitations have become more apparent the the more we see from him and the lack of footballing intelligence at times is frustrating to witness as he's evidently on a different wavelength to most of his team-mates.

If this continues throughout the season then Lukaku ,for his own sake, may need to think about his future away from OT in the summer,especially if Ole is set to continue.
If we're going for a more expansive,creative game and one that features more on technical interplay I cant see how Lukaku will feature for any manager let alone Ole.
 
Well Solskjaer's reign is likely to be short enough that yes, we can. Lukaku isn't going to be particularly bothered if he thinks it might all change when a new manager comes in so for this season it's all well and good. Especially as Solskjaer will likely play him a fair bit anyway. Plus if Rashford hits poor form while Lukaku hits good form then he could still actually win his place back under Solskjaer too.

If Solskjaer stays and/or the new manager views Lukaku similarly then it might be different. Even then though a smart manager will probably do enough to make him think he can play his way in the team, keep him for another season while we sort other problem areas out, then sell him later.
 
Rashford is still a young player, his form will dip eventually.
 
RedCurry said:
He's too ambitious for that. Either he starts frequently or he'll find another club.
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Is he ambitious? Would an ambitious player not want to better himself, be a dedicated professioal and work on his weaknesses?

He talks a lot, but I don't see ambition on the pitch. I see a player who has lost his hunger (not literally obviously [he's keeping his local Greggs in business]), and drive and passion.
 
If it were me i would love it. Get paid 200k after tax for just training. He wont though. If is not getting match time, he will leave. But i would say we could recoup the money we paid for him, close to it at least.
 
ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg said:
Is he ambitious? Would an ambitious player not want to better himself, be a dedicated professioal and work on his weaknesses?

He talks a lot, but I don't see ambition on the pitch. I see a player who has lost his hunger (not literally obviously [he's keeping his local Greggs in business]), and drive and passion.
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He is. Perhaps he lacks a good first touch, but he wants to be playing.

He will go if he is not being played.
 
Dzeko better than Lukaku? That's some revisionist BS right there. Lukaku has always been a good goalscorer, better than Dzeko in that regard.

He's on our bench because Rashford is on fire, if he wants to play he has to wait for his chance.
 
Of course we can. You don’t just get in the side because we paid a lot of money for him. Rashford is younger and far more effective atm, he has to adapt to get into the side with Rashford - which I don’t think he’s good enough to do.
 
Think if Lukaku can’t force himself into the starting 11 come the summer he might try and get a move.

Oddly I could see Madrid signing him. Don’t know why - just a hunch.
 
Put your faith in Rashford and Martial. I cannot see Sanchez getting a move on his wages (or even wanting one) so you really need to give him an extended period before you cut losses.

Lukaku is the one you need to get rid of and you will probably recoup his transfer fee in the current climate. He is a good striker but like many have said just a flat track bully.

Not good enough for Utd in my opinion.
 
I don't think Ole cares what he cost, that doesn't factor into his decision making regarding team selections. But if Ole stays I think we'll see Lukaku moved on. To me, it's clear he doesn't have the required technical ability for the football we want to play and we look much better with a fluid technical front three. I think we'll see a better Sanchez once he doesn't line up alongside Lukaku as well. Hopefully, we can sell him off to Italy since he was making noises about wanting to play there and we can replace him with someone more suited to our style.
 
ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg said:
Is he ambitious? Would an ambitious player not want to better himself, be a dedicated professioal and work on his weaknesses?

He talks a lot, but I don't see ambition on the pitch. I see a player who has lost his hunger (not literally obviously [he's keeping his local Greggs in business]), and drive and passion.
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Lukaku has been described as an extremley dedicated professional by every manager he's worked under since he was a child and his efforts to improve himself have similarly been spoken about in glowing terms by those who have worked with him. Why you've randomly decided that this isn't the case, I have no idea.

You can be dedicated as hell and still be a limited footballer. Hell, you can be dedicated and still be an utterly shite footballer. Quality and effort don't necessarily follow on from each other.
 
Of course we can. If he’s not happy, little old Everton who desperately need a striker will always be waiting in the shadows to sign him back for what we paid for him, if no bigger clubs are interested.
 
sullydnl said:
Lukaku has been described as an extremley dedicated professional by every manager he's worked under since he was a child and his efforts to improve himself have similarly been spoken about in glowing terms by those who have worked with him. Why you've randomly decided that this isn't the case, I have no idea.

You can be dedicated as hell and still be a limited footballer. Hell, you can be dedicated and still be an utterly shite footballer. Quality and effort don't necessarily follow on from each other.
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No doubt he's worked very hard to get to Utd - I won't argue that at all, in fact I would endorse it.

The fact that's he's in appalling condition is absoubtly an indicator that's he's not as dedicated as he should be.

To me he looks like a player who thinks he's made it, and is no longer fighting to get to the top. It's not uncommon is it.

I've not randomly decided he's not dedicated, I've had the displeasure of watching him perform on the pitch.
 
He is useless off the bench too. He was so clumsy and lazy against Spurs the other day.
 
IrishRedDevil said:
Of course we can. If he’s not happy, little old Everton who desperately need a striker will always be waiting in the shadows to sign him back for what we paid for him, if no bigger clubs are interested.
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He'd not go back down to a club of Evertons level.

I can see him at PSG when Cavani leaves.
 
He'll leave in summer when he comes to conclusion he's on the bench because he sucks and has dropped to second option in his place.
 
Sure. Especially while Martial and Rashford keep making fantastic progress.

Though Lukaku wasn't a signing that ever appealed to my inner muppet
 
I think so, yes. Rashford has outperformed him in just about every facet so far and he's rightfully getting the nod. It's actually refreshing to see a manager who isn't intimidated by the pressure to start a player just because they were signed for big money.
 
UNITED ACADEMY said:
We need some Lukaku’s defender for this thread.

I would like to know your thought on this @Andersons Dietician
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I don’t think it’ll be an issue because eventually Ole will put Rashford as some sort of RWF with Lukaku in the mix when or if Ole gets him back in to form and if he can’t Rashford will continue to start although I’d like to see all 3 of them for some games.

If not I can’t see him wanting to stay here as a back up and would imagine he’d be thinking of pushing for a move not this summer but next. I think he’d wait a season to see if he can regain his spot. Not sure if we’d recoup 90mil for him but I would imagine somewhere around 70-80 mil. Proven goal scorer and those are worth their weight in gold so I would imagine there would be plenty of buyers.
 
Luke,u is doing just fine... it is Sanchez we should worry about. Wonder why so many of the cafe prefer Sanchez... just cos of his Arse days??

I think
Ukaku will love playing for Ole and slot in alongside Rashford and Martial once he is a few more weeks matchfit.
 
I don't see him wanting to play second fiddle here. And there's no benefit for us because he'll stay out of shape. Players with this body weight needs to playing week in week out .either way we're going to take a loss on him- there's zero chance of recouping 90 mill. Perhaps we could get 50-60 mill from Italian club ?
 
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