After a very public transfer saga, Romelu Lukaku got the move away from Manchester United he wanted this summer.
Finally getting to work under Antonio Conte, the Belgian appears to be enjoying himself in Italy since his transfer, and he was joined late on in the European window by Alexis Sánchez, who managed to score and get sent off in his first full debut at the weekend.
The ‘dispute’ between Lukaku and the Old Trafford club became rather public towards the end, and the exit was a long time coming.
Gazzetta dello Sport look at the whole situation now that the dust has settled, and apparently have some information regarding the final months of the Belgian’s time at Manchester United.
With Inter playing Barcelona in the Champions League, they look back at last year’s fixture between the player’s former team and the La Liga winners, which saw Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side unceremoniously crash out of the competition.
Lukaku was picked for the first leg of the quarter finals at Old Trafford, which ended in a 1-0 defeat for Manchester United, with the only winner being his mother, who got to meet Lionel Messi thanks to her son.
Come the return leg, Solskjaer favoured a more counter attacking side, fielding Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford up top, with Jesse Lingard just behind them.
As for Lukaku, he was relegated to the bench, forcing him to watch most of the game from the sidelines (he came on for the final 17 minutes), which ‘hurt him’.
Gazzetta explain it was that night, April 16th, the Belgium international decided ‘once and for all’ he was going to leave the club in the summer in search of pastures anew.
That he did, and with Inter unbeaten in Serie A so far, it seems he’s made the right choice for himself, as Manchester United linger in mid table mediocrity with nine points from their first seven games, which is their worst start to a season in 30 years after that amount of fixtures.
