Romelu Lukaku ended his debut season at Manchester United with twenty-six goals to his name.

He average around a goal every second game for the Red Devils (slightly better if truth be told) but only sixteen of those strikes came in the Premier League.

Given that the Belgian international scored more league goals in each of his last two seasons at Everton, United fans may have expected more from their £75m man.

He had a lull in scoring form between mid September and early December, he struck just once in twelve outings. The forward also failed to score in the bigger games against any of the other sides that finished in the top four.

Personally, I fully expect to see more from Lukuka next term and I think his goal tally should increase too.

All in all, Romelu was a very good focal point for the Old Trafford side. He held the ball up well, ran into the channels and has worked on his link up play. The attacker was strong in the air, winning on average 3.4 aerial battles per game. He also contributed by making seven assists in the league.

His performance against Chelsea in the second half of the season, showed that he can handle the big game encounters. He scored one and set up another against his former side and that was enough to give his team the victory.

People have perviously questioned Romelu’s work ethic, footballing brain and his ability to perform under pressure. I think he answered a lot of those queries last term and will be more conclusive next term.

Man United boss Jose Mourinho has used Lukaku differently from what he was used to at Goodison. Instead of being a runner going at defenders, he’s been asked to do more for the team. That takes some getting used to and the twenty-five year old will be more comfortable with his lot next term.

The fact he played in all but four of United’s league matches, shows the trust Mourinho has in his main striker.

That was evident in Jose’s praise of the player in January:

“It’s really difficult to play against them,”

“That is amazing from Lukaku but sometimes people look at strikers and just analyse goals and that’s not fair because he is a team player and the quality, vision, pass today for the goal was fantastic.”

Now that Lukaku has had that year to familiarise himself with his new surroundings and his role in the Man Utd team, he’ll only get stronger in the coming years.

If Mourinho can find the balance in his team behind Romelu Lukaku and have his side attacking more, then I’d imagine that the twenty-five year old will battle with Harry Kane and Mohamed Salah next season for the golden boot.

Posted on June 19th, 2018 by scott
Filed under: Article