Jose Mourinho Hasn’t Solved Any Of Manchester United’s Problems With Lukaku Signing

Jose Mourinho Hasn’t Solved Any Of Manchester United’s Problems With Lukaku Signing
12:08, 25 Jul 2017

Ultimately, Jose Mourinho’s patience ran thin. Having been frustrated in his pursuit of Alvaro Morata, with Real Madrid playing hardball with Manchester United over their valuation of the striker, a £75 million bid for Romelu Lukaku was placed just days before the Old Trafford club set off on their pre-season tour of the USA. Mourinho, as it turned out, just wanted to get a centre forward in the door.

Whether or not Lukaku is better or worse than Morata is up to personal preference, but the two strikers are of a very different mould. By switching from one to the other, Mourinho shifted his ideology. United will be a different team with Lukaku leading the line that they would have been had Morata been secured.

Although Man Utd’s transfer plans for the summer had changed a lot earlier. With Zlatan Ibrahimovic suffering a season-ending injury in April, Mourinho was forced to put in place a plan to replace the Swedish striker, the implication being that beforehand a supplementary striker would have been sought.

Of course, Ibrahimovic enjoyed a successful debut season in the Premier League, but stylistically, there were concerns over the way United played to his strengths as a frontman rather than their strengths as a team. Far too often, the Old Trafford side were one-dimensional in their final third play. They needed someone to give them another dimension.

Morata could have been that someone. Not quite as dynamic as someone like Antoine Griezmann, the Spanish international is far more versatile in his qualities and traits than Lukaku. Morata involves himself in build-up play, linking up with teammates in a way that frequently got the best from Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid. 

That’s the kind of player Man Utd could have used to fully utilise a frontline that was underused last season. Players like Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Henrikh Mkhitaryan are among the very best in their position in the Premier League, yet all three, at one point or another, have found themselves marginalised under Mourinho.

United need an attacker to join up all the dots. Griezmann would have been that player, and Morata would have at least offered something similar in that regard. Lukaku is not that sort of player, however, and so Mourinho’s team will surely suffer the same problems they endured last term with Ibrahimovic leading the line.

That’s not to say Lukaku doesn’t have a place at Old Trafford. His goalscoring record at Premier League level speaks for itself, showing himself to be one of the brightest young strikers in the European game over the past five years or so. But he, just like Ibrahimovic before him, will need a supporting striker. There is no sign of any such player pitching up at United any time soon.

It could be that Mourinho is simply holding out for Griezmann, with the Atletico Madrid forward a long term target for Man Utd. He could, theoretically, work well with Lukaku. Until such a time as Griezmann is available again, though, a solution is required, otherwise United will be just as one dimensional as ever. Lukaku might be the ideal replacement for Ibrahimovic, but that’s not necessarily a good thing.

x
Suggested Searches:
The Sportsman
Manchester United
Liverpool
Manchester City
Premier League
Sportsman HQ
72-76 Cross St
Manchester M2 4JG
We will not ask you to provide any personal information when using The Sportsman website. You may see advertisement banners on the site, and if you choose to visit those websites, you will accept the terms and conditions and privacy policy applicable to those websites. The link below directs you to our Group Privacy Policy, and our Data Protection Officer can be contacted by email at: [email protected]

All original material is Copyright © 2019 by The Sportsman Communications Ltd.
Other material is copyright their respective owners.