Former Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku has revealed he snubbed the wishes of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer before leaving the club for a transfer to Inter Milan in the summer.
The Belgium international struggled for playing time towards the end of his two-year spell with the Red Devils, and looks to have made the right choice in leaving the club after reviving his career at Inter this season.
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Discussing his move away from Man Utd, Lukaku admitted that Solskjaer wanted him to stay at Old Trafford, but that he felt ready to ignore the Norwegian’s wishes and leave anyway.
“Solskjaer has my eternal respect. He understood me when I said in March that it was time for me to leave,” he told Het Belang van Limburg.
“I have been in the Premier League as an 18-year-old boy and now I am 26. Solskjaer wanted to keep me, but I was ready for something new.”
United fans may not have initially been too bothered about losing Lukaku after his relative lack of impact in his time in Manchester, but they perhaps underestimated him after a bit of a poor spell.
It now looks like the 26-year-old is back to his best and could have been a useful member of Solskjaer’s squad this term, especially as MUFC ended up not signing a replacement up front.
This has left the team overly reliant on the likes of Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial for goals, and so far that’s not really worked out well enough after a slow start to the season and a lack of attacking threat in a number of games.