Has Romelu Lukaku Become a Scapegoat of United's failures?

FRANKIE CHRISTOU - @FrankieChristou 

The demise of Manchester United since the departure of Alex Ferguson has been full of half-hearted managerial appointments, backward recruitment and the deterioration of a footballing identity. 

The Club has become the laughing stock of British football, a similar position that Liverpool found themselves in four years ago.

Recent years has seen the club tarnish the reputations of world-class managers such as Louis Van Gal and Jose Mourinho but more recently the United’s stars have degenerated into average footballers at a mid-table club.

Alexis Sanchez’s career crashed, Phil Jones’s potential suffocated by a series of facial expressions while Paul Pogba’s persona wrestles with the club’s legacy. Even David De Gea, United's most consistent performer in the past five years, is beginning to be left behind. 

One player’s demise, however, has run simultaneously alongside United’s own. A milestone signing in the post-Fergie era, a striker who was seen to head the rebirth of Manchester United – Romelu Lukaku. 

Lukaku arrived at Carrington from Everton for a record-breaking £70m. He finished second to Harry Kane in the goal-scoring charts with 25 goals for the 2016-17 season.

 At 23 years-old, Lukaku proved himself as a robust front-man with explosive strength who could find the back of the net by any means. He had an array of qualities he would use to score goals of all kinds.

The Belgian was a beacon of potential as seasons at West Brom and  Everton elevated him into one of the Premier League’s most potent strikers. 

All United title-winning seasons were headed by deadly strikers. Teddy Sheringham, Andy Cole, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Robin Van Persie, and even Ole Gunnar Solksjaer has his say on the clubs most prolific Premier League years. 

Hence, the acquisition of Lukaku by Jose Mourinho injected the euphoria of old back into the red side of Manchester. A sense of belief that a title-winning manager and a deadly striker would carry them back to greatness engulfed them. 

However, the two seasons Lukaku has endured at Old Trafford have been anything but euphoric. His intriguing potential has faded away and as a result, he has been cast aside by the most recent manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. 

He has become a walking meme. The Belgian has been described as a timberland wearing striker, as highlight reels have been made of his poor first touch and wayward shots in a United Shirt. 

As a result, Lukaku is expected to leave United this summer as part of the club's exodus. Inter Milan and Juventus are weighing up the Belgian as they look to rejuvenate his career in Serie A, where his younger brother Jordan plays for Lazio. 

Lukaku's proposed departure has brought cheers from United fans as the striker has not matched his expectations they rightly put on him when he first signed for the club. 

But has any United signing since 2013 actually met expectations or fulfilled their proposed potential? 

When put into perspective, Lukaku’s goal scoring record for the Red Devils is relatively impressive given he has been feeding off scraps for two seasons. 

At West Brom, and Everton Lukaku was the focal point of the attack. A spearhead that would penetrate opposition defensives head-on, while runners peel off around him that he lend the ball too while he made runs into the penalty area.

At Untied he has had to change his game. Under Mourinho’s regressive defensive tactics he was seen as an outlet rather than a spearhead. He had to learn to play with his back to goal and hold up the ball while the others made their way up the pitch. 

He became isolated in games, having a maximum of two touches in each half both which were usually by the halfway line. 

While his stature might suggest that Lukaku is made for that style of play, his attributes are not fit to having his back to goal. He is not an Ibrahimović. 

He is at his best when his body is faced at goal, running at defenders, weaving in and out and synergising attacks with other creative outlets. 

The fact he managed to notch 16 goals in his debut season, under those circumstances, is commendable of an OBE. 

This season was a slightly different story. He has never been fancied by Solksjaer who has put faith in Marcus Rashford as a striker. Lukaku spent the latter part of the season making appearances from the bench. 

Yet, he still managed to end the season as United’s 2^nd top goal scorer with 12 goals, while the top spot was taken by Paul Pogba (13) who ended the season in the PFA Team of the Year. 

The reality of the situation is that Lukaku is still a goal-scoring machine. He just needs the right players behind him who can provide the service for him, a point which is further emphasised by his prolific form for Belgium. 

At 26 years-old he is his country’s record top goal scorer with 48 goals, but his most recent form highlights he still has that goal-scoring touch. 14 goals in his last 15 games, with 4 of those goals coming in last summer’s World Cup. 

With the likes of Eden Hazard and Kevin De Bruyne behind him, some will say that he is expected to score like that for his country. However, that is the point entirely.

The man will score goals with his eyes closed with the right team, and manager behind him. The fact is, he has not received the right service at United, and by the sounds of it, he never will. 

Instead, he has been made a scapegoat for the clubs further demise when in reality he is just a product of the corrosive recruitment strategy of Ed Woodward that has trickled down into the team's performances. 

Selling Lukaku will not solve United’s problems. It will only make them bigger because his replacement will most likely be another aging hotshot who wants a big payday. 

They need to be building the team around himself and Pogba by bringing in creative players who would be able to awaken the Everton or West Brom Lukaku.  

His imminent Premier League departure will be a shame as he was once one of the Premier League's most feared strikers. His exit is simply a result of Man United’s incompetence instead of his own and his legacy will live on beyond the many strikers who grace Premier League in the future.