Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho, has said that Romelu Lukaku’s Premier League experience and his personal relationship with the player from their time together at Chelsea, were the primary reasons he sanctioned a £75million move for the 24-year-old
Mourinho at the time questioned Lukaku’s mentality, but the striker himself has insisted the pair have since moved on, in an interview with NBC’s Beyond The Pitch.
The Portuguese has now stated that he expects the player, to become an important part of his United team and score goals.
“He’s the kind of player that everybody knows. He’s a striker, so we’re not speaking about a multi-functional player or [one who will] create doubts about positions on the pitch, he’s a striker and normally strikers score goals,” Mourinho told reporters.
“The reason why he was so important and difficult to get is what he did in the Premier League. Obviously there are other good strikers in football but the Premier League is a very specific habitat, a different habitat. Normally they need some time to adapt and Lukaku plays in Premier League for the last four or five seasons.
“I didn’t negotiate, it was Mr [chief executive Ed] Woodward who negotiated with Romelu, his agent [Mino Raiola] and the Everton board, the only thing I did was to call him when the situation was almost there just to guarantee him that he would be an important player in my team.
“It’s quite a great experience the fact we worked together already for a few months and during the time when I was at Chelsea and when he was at Everton our relationship was always very close, despite it not working well for us together.
“He’s intelligent, he’s polite, we kept the contact, the feeling and now we are back together in different moments and I have no doubts it is going to work.”
Mourinho at the time questioned Lukaku’s mentality, but the striker himself has insisted the pair have since moved on, in an interview with NBC’s Beyond The Pitch.
The Portuguese has now stated that he expects the player, to become an important part of his United team and score goals.
“He’s the kind of player that everybody knows. He’s a striker, so we’re not speaking about a multi-functional player or [one who will] create doubts about positions on the pitch, he’s a striker and normally strikers score goals,” Mourinho told reporters.
“The reason why he was so important and difficult to get is what he did in the Premier League. Obviously there are other good strikers in football but the Premier League is a very specific habitat, a different habitat. Normally they need some time to adapt and Lukaku plays in Premier League for the last four or five seasons.
“I didn’t negotiate, it was Mr [chief executive Ed] Woodward who negotiated with Romelu, his agent [Mino Raiola] and the Everton board, the only thing I did was to call him when the situation was almost there just to guarantee him that he would be an important player in my team.
“It’s quite a great experience the fact we worked together already for a few months and during the time when I was at Chelsea and when he was at Everton our relationship was always very close, despite it not working well for us together.
“He’s intelligent, he’s polite, we kept the contact, the feeling and now we are back together in different moments and I have no doubts it is going to work.”
