There’s been a lot said about Man United’s decision to let Romelu Lukaku go in the Summer. There are arguments on both sides over if they should’ve let him go, but it seems obvious that not replacing him was a huge error.
One of the biggest criticisms over his game were down to his ability to hold the ball up and link with the midfield. He often struggled at Old Trafford and his touch was poor at times, but these highlights from Inter vs SPAL show exactly what he can offer as an all round striker:
Romelu Lukaku vs SPAL – Hold-up & Link-up play Masterclass ??@InterYaLautaro pic.twitter.com/ndY6CowBic
— LautaroYaInter (@YaLautaro) December 3, 2019
There might be a few reasons for why he’s playing so well just now. You have to think that his confidence will be up and that makes a big difference, but you can also see how many players Inter get around him when he has the ball.
That didn’t happen in Manchester. Paul Pogba tends to operate from deeper while players like Jesse Lingard prefer to float about and play through balls, but he doesn’t tend to get beyond the striker to cause problems.
That made him easy to play against, the opposition knew if they cut off any lay offs to the one or two players near him then the attack was over.
Perhaps this shows he was right to leave and United didn’t know how to use him, but on this evidence he would make a huge difference to their attack just now.