Despite being a starter at Manchester United for a year-and-a-half, interim manager Ole Gunnar Solksjaer has benched Romelu Lukaku in favour of Marcus Rashford.
It hasn’t been an easy year whatsoever for Belgian international and Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku. Under Jose Mourinho, he failed to hit the heights that we all know he is capable of. Lukaku is after all, a player who has over 100 Premier League goals and nearly 50 for Belgium at just 25-years-old. That proves his talent, and he should be moving into his prime.
Yet, the older Lukaku gets, the more lethargic he seems to become. He isn’t the dynamic, dangerous centre-forward we saw at Everton or even West Brom. He seems more static, and more like a target man, which doesn’t play to his strengths. This loss in mobility has led Solksjaer to give Rashford the starting striker spot over him, as he fits his ideas a bit better.
Despite being out-of-favour, Lukaku has still managed to score in all 3 matches under Solksjaer, although the 2 Premier League goals were off the bench.
Lukaku must either win his spot back, or look elsewhere for his football.
Lukaku is Manchester United’s 2nd most expensive signing ever, so they must either find a way to fit him into the XI, or sell him. He is far too big of a financial asset to be rotting on the bench, and in truth, he deserves better.
He will have to wait out the season, or at least until Manchester United’s full-time manager is announced, and see how he would fit into their plans.
Jose Mourinho was likely the worst thing to happen to Lukaku at this point in his career. His impact on matches was diminished, and he may very well have regretted rejecting Chelsea for United back in the summer of 2017. Chelsea are dying for a striker of his mold while he has turned into somewhat of a meme at United.
One thing is for certain though – Lukaku is still a player with immense ability and a clinical finish, it’s just that someone needs to find a way to extract it from him once again. When on form, there aren’t many players that are better to watch.