ROMELU LUKAKU THE 90 MILLION POUND DONKEY!

Just to set things straight to begin with, this article only refers to Romelu Lukaku as a football player. Nothing more. The word donkey is only a reference to his performance as a footballer on the pitch. I wanted to make that absolutely clear before we got started, just in case any uber sensitive keyboard warriors lost their sense of reality. For those who tend to see “the red mist”, calm the f*** down and try and think rationally.

Now to the point. Romelu Lukaku, for me is just a 90 million pound footballing donkey.

In his defence it is not his fault that Manchester United paid £90 million for him. Nor can one begrudge him the move to one of the worlds biggest clubs. I am also sure he got a pretty decent salary increase to boot. But let’s be clear about something, Romelu Lukaku was never, ever worth anywhere close to what was paid for him. And United dropping that kind of coin on him is nothing short of professional malpractice and an insult to the game itself.

Now I will admit, around six weeks ago Romelu almost made me change my opinion of him. He was banging in goals for fun at United and broke Sir Bobby Charltons long standing record, scoring ten goals in his first nine games. I had several discussions with Manchester United fans at the time who were adamant that they didn’t care about his general game play or price tag as long as he kept scoring goals. And a part of me almost said well maybe they are right. Thankfully though the real Romelu Lukaku has emerged once more and brought me back to my senses. Now I have clarity.

Let me give you some insight to what I am thinking. I have been unfortunate enough to watch a few of Manchester United’s games recently. While the overall performance of the team has been average, Lukaku himself has been abysmal. In his last five games he has managed only nine shots on goal in total and only scored one goal. He is one of the laziest strikers I have ever seen play the game and rarely even performs the mandatory task of running the channels. He drifts around the pitch doing f* all to be honest. And whilst most modern day strikers actively counter press like Harry Kane, Alvaro Morata and Robert Firmino. Lukaku provides ABSOLUTE ZERO in this area of the game. I am not even a United fan and it frustrates the st out of me.

I would say that the only thing Lukaku really does on a football pitch is provide direct ball flick ons and fox in the box type goals. That’s about it. Oh ok. I forgot one thing. He is pretty handy when it comes to defending corners as well. But THAT IS really about it. Watching the Chelsea vs. United game and the performances of Morata vs. Lukaku the differences were abundantly clear. Morata was constantly on the move, trying to find space. He never allowed United’s defence a moment to breathe. He was a regular threat and his goal was, well, sublime. Everything you would want from a modern day striker. Everything that Romelu Lukaku was not.

It is also quite clear to me that while Lukaku has the strength and power to bully lesser skilled professionals, the moment he comes up against any quality defenders he is all of a sudden totally ineffective. To me this is not coincidence but a pattern we have seen over and over again. Another reason I don’t believe he should be classified anywhere near the elite level his price tag suggests.

What I find truly amazing about Lukaku is his goal scoring record. Which quite honestly is very impressive. Unfortunately, for him, it somewhat shadows over his true identity as a footballer. There is a place for Romelu in football. He can serve a very good purpose for a certain type of team. However I am absolutely certain that is not at the elite level with a club like Manchester United.