The Man Utd duo advised to leave the club by Romelu Lukaku have both followed his advice
Former Manchester United and Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku encouraged two of his former team-mates to leave Old Trafford and has had mixed success since leaving the Red Devils
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Romelu Lukaku encouraged his former Manchester United team-mates Ashley Young and Alexis Sanchez to leave Old Trafford following his departure in 2019 and they took his advice to heart.
The Belgian striker originally signed for the Red Devils in 2017 for £75m from Everton. Despite a decent record of 42 goals in 96 appearances in all competitions for United, he just didn’t seem to fit the bill at the club.
Just two years after signing, he’s back on track making another big move, this time to Inter. Lukaku has enjoyed greater success with the Italian giants as 64 goals in two seasons took the club to the 2020 Europa League final, also ending their long wait for the Serie A title. Shortly after starting his San Siro debut, the striker encouraged some of his former Red Devils teammates to follow him. He would have given as main reason the lack of “clans” in Italy.
The first was Ashley Young, ending a successful eight-and-a-half-year stint at Old Trafford. At Inter, he partnered with Antonio Conte and played more than his part in restoring Inter to their former glory.
He justified his decision to leave United and had no doubts he had made the right decision. “It’s never easy to leave a club in January but I look back now and I think I made the right decision,” Young said.
Romelu Lukaku encouraged Alexis Sanchez to leave Manchester United
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“I always wanted to go out and win. I have this ambition, drive and desire to win. Obviously in the first season we reached the Europa League final, which we unfortunately lost. “Also we lost the league by one point and I think that could have spurred us on this season to lift a trophy and win Serie A. Going there and making that decision was, I think, the best thing I’ve ever done.”
Young left Milan after a year and a half to return to his former club Aston Villa and has just left the club for the second time. While the winger-turned-defender has had plenty of success at Inter, the same cannot be said for Alexis Sanchez.
The Chilean signed to Arsenal had a difficult time at the Red Devils before his contract was terminated. Things weren’t so bad in Italy as Sanchez managed over 100 games and won Serie A and Coppa Italia. Man Utd were under no illusions after Erik ten Hag dropped a player for showing up late
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He only scored 20 goals in total for the club before his contract was terminated so he could complete a move to French side Marseille. Since then, the striker has said he hasn’t had much success with Inter.
“I was calm at Inter, but did they give me the chance to put myself to the test?” he asked. “I said I would accept any criticism if they let me play and I did a bad job. In that case they would have been right to criticize me, but not if they judged me but didn’t give me the chance to prove myself. I felt like a lion in a cage.”
Sanchez’s debut season at the Stade Velodrome went very well as he scored 18 goals in all competitions.
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