Manchester United’s struggles this season have been well documented and what was supposed to be an improvement on a solid debut campaign under Erik ten Hag has turned into a nightmare.
The Red Devils have lost their opening two Champions League ties against Bayern Munich and Galatasaray while winning just four of their first eight Premier League matches and a title challenge appears to be too much to ask.
Their defensive fragilities have been exposed as the Old Trafford side have conceded 19 goals across their 11 games so far, while two or more have been conceded in six of those ties, something that needs to be fixed soon rather than later.
It isn’t just defensively where they are struggling. Their top scorer this season is Casemiro – a central midfielder – with four goals, while Marcus Rashford has scored just once all season. New signing Rasmus Hojlund has taken to the Champions League with ease, netting three times in the competition, yet he is goalless in the Premier League.
It's evident that Ten Hag needs greater firepower in the final third, especially if he wishes to challenge for league titles along with success in Europe, and he could well turn to the January transfer window to bolster his squad.
The Old Trafford side may regret selling one of their former strikers however, as he has outscored every single United player since departing in 2019 – Romelu Lukaku.
How much did Romelu Lukaku cost Man Utd?
Jose Mourinho enjoyed a relatively solid debut campaign in charge of the Red Devils, winning the Community Shield, League Cup and Europa League and the onus was on the ‘special one’ to lead the club to a Premier League title challenge.
With Wayne Rooney departing the club after 13 years, Mourinho was after someone who could take over the goalscoring mantle and Lukaku was his main target.
The Belgian sensation was signed for a fee in the region of £75m from Everton in the summer of 2017 and having netted 87 goals for the Toffees in just four seasons, including 25 league goals during his final term, it looked like he could be a wonderful addition.
Mourinho waxed lyrical about the forward, saying: "Romelu is a natural fit for Manchester United. He is a big personality and a big player. It is only natural that he wants to develop his career at the biggest club.
"He will be a great addition to the group. I am really looking forward to working with him again."
His two-year spell in Manchester didn’t live up to the vast expectations, however.
What happened to Romelu Lukaku?
The former Chelsea frontman appeared in 51 games for United during the 2017/18 campaign and his 16 league goals helped them finish in second place – their highest position since winning the title five years previously – behind Manchester City.
He netted 27 goals overall during his first season, and he looked like the ideal fit for United. His second season however saw him struggle to replicate his clinical nature in front of goal, and he only netted 15 times in all competitions, while he was even criticised by journalist Samuel Luckhurst.
The Manchester Evening News correspondent said at the time: “Lukaku will doubtless benefit from being coached by Solskjaer, but only he was to blame for his woeful and costly finishing in the first months of the season. Lukaku admitted he had bulked up too much. United have hardly missed him when he has been on the bench.”
Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer had taken over from Mourinho during the second half of the 2018/19 season, and it was clear Lukaku wasn’t going to be in his plans going forward.
The Red Devils received almost their entire outlay back as Inter Milan signed him for £73m and he bid goodbye to the Premier League for an Italian adventure.
Where is Romelu Lukaku now?
Having faltered in England during his final season, the Belgian enjoyed the Italian game and went on to score 34 goals across 51 appearances for the club in 2019/20, a stunning return and many of the Old Trafford faithful must have been wondering where this Lukaku was just a year before.
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Having not won a Serie A title since 2010, Inter were desperate for glory and having a player like Lukaku leading the line clearly gave them a solid advantage. Indeed, during his second season, the striker netted 24 league goals (30 overall) to ensure the club lifted the Scudetto and endeared himself further to the supporters.
Since the summer of 2021, he has played for Chelsea, Inter and AS Roma, failing to really settle, yet he has added another 36 goals to his collection since departing the Milan oufit after their title triumph.
In fact, following his move from United over four years ago, Lukaku has scored 100 club goals in that time period and not a single player from the Old Trafford side comes close to matching that tally.
Rashford has scored 79 goals during that time, while Bruno Fernandes has 66 since arriving during the 2020 January transfer window, yet these are the only two players who are even remotely close to matching the 100 that Lukaku has netted.
Even centre-forward Anthony Martial has only netted 41 goals since the summer of 2019, a truly woeful tally considering his talents and it's evident that United have an attacking problem which has plagued them for several years now.
So far this season, the Belgian hitman has scored seven goals for Roma in just eight matches after he joined the club during the summer, and he is clearly returning to some excellent form.
He may not have been the answer to all of Ten Hag’s problems during this difficult second season, yet he still knows where the back of the net is and this ability to score at a whim could’ve prevented United from losing so many games this season.
Selling him for £73m at the time seemed like a good idea, especially with the form he showcased during his second season, but looking at his output since then, it’s clear that United have made a very big mistake.