Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has claimed that his former club gave up on Romelu Lukaku too quickly.
The Belgian forward signed for United in the summer of 2017 for a massive fee of £75 million. He spent two seasons at the club, scoring 42 goals in 96 appearances.
Nonetheless, once Jose Mourinho was sacked, he fell down the pecking order under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and was sold to Inter Milan in 2019.
He did get a move back to England with Chelsea 2021 but once again, failed to make a major impact before returning to Serie A.
The forward had further successful spells with Inter and AS Roma before signing for SSC Napoli in the summer. He scored 14 goals this season as the Azzurri won the title on the last day of the season.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ferdinand lamented United’s lack of patience with the Belgian star.
He claimed, “I need to give a shoutout to a man called Romelu Lukaku. He’s another player who’s left Manchester United [and thrived]. He’s won Serie A again and scored on the night they won it.”
Ferdinand pinpointed Lukaku’s problem in the Premier League by explaining that people wanted him to be something he wasn’t due to his physical stature.
He elaborated, “I look at Lukaku and the problem, especially in England, has been everyone looks at what he can’t do or what he’s not so good at.”
“Just because he’s big and quick people expect him to play in a certain way. His game is about running onto things and running at people.”
The former defender claimed that United made a “mistake” by not playing “to his strengths” and that they “got rid of him too quickly probably.”
Ferdinand argued that no player will show off their best work in the wrong system and claimed his record in Italy speaks for itself.
There is no doubt that Lukaku was and is a natural goalscorer. Nonetheless, his time at Chelsea and United perhaps highlights that he is a player who is certainly better suited to Italy than the specific demands of the Premier League.
Featured image Francesco Pecoraro via Getty Images
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
