Patrick Rees
To everyone’s surprise, Manchester United created one of the major upsets for the fellow Premier League side Chelsea by breaking out a deal to sign Everton’s Romelu Lukaku for a fee reported to be around £75million.
The details, however, haven’t been made official by either clubs and there still are a couple of uncertainties regarding the transfer as the player is yet to agree personal terms. But if the BBC journalist Simon Stone is to be trusted, United are in the final stages of the negotiation and will soon join the squad for their pre-season tour.
Stones quoted that the former Chelsea striker is expected to undergo a medical in Los Angeles, where he is in on a holiday. He further elaborated the fact that both Lukaku and Pogba, who were pictured training together in LA a few days back, share the same agent Mino Raiola – who also manages Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan – has played a big role in United’s favour.
“I think basically Manchester United are just tying up what they would see as being the loose ends of a deal,” Stone said on BBC’s Football Gossip Live (h/t Express).
“Getting a full agreement from Everton, which clearly there is not at the moment, and then getting permission to send him for a medical which will probably happen in the United States.
“Manchester United go to the United States on Sunday at the start of their pre-season tour and I expect at some point Romelu Lukaku will join them. Sharing an agent certainly has [played a part in the deal], and there is no doubt about it they clearly get on well together.
“It’s clear Pogba will have been bending his ear saying ‘Romelu come to Old Trafford, it’s a great place to play. You’ll be in the same team as me we can have a lot of fun. You don’t need to move house.
“But players don’t have to take that advice. I just think we’ve reached a point with Lukaku where he has to test himself.”
All this would give United fans a huge sigh of relief as the club didn’t really make any progress in transfer market. Besides, given the fact that Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been released, United are in a dire need of an attacking reinforcement. Following this, they tried getting their hands of Real Madrid’s Alvaro Morata, but the Galactico’s jaw-dropping demands led United dropping off their interest in the Spaniard.
Is it the time now to say, “Welcome to Manchester United, Romelu Lukaku”?
