A football player’s career can be made or broken by the pressure of playing for a team as big as Manchester United. Several elite players who joined the Red Devils have fallen short of expectations and failed when given the opportunity to play in the Theatre of Dreams.

Notable instances include Alexis Sanchez, Memphis Depay, Morgan Schneiderlin, and others who came to Man United with a lot of expectations placed on them and failed to live up to them on the big stage for their new employers.

At Manchester United, attackers are frequently brought in for great money but never really get going. One such player is Alexis Sanchez, who had an outstanding Premier League record with Arsenal before to joining the Red Devils, totaling 80 goals in league play.

However, he would only manage a pitiful five goals from 45 starts until Man United called.

Over the years, Old Trafford has seen a number of disastrous transfers, with Romelu Lukaku’s arrival standing out as one of the most noteworthy examples.

What was the price Man United paid to sign Romelu Lukaku?

After earning a reputation as a lethal striker at Everton, Lukaku made his statement signing for Man United during the 2017–18 transfer window. The Belgian signed for £75 million to conclude his four-season tenure with the Toffees.

Victor Lindelof, who is still at Old Trafford today, and Nemanja Matic were also signed by Man United during the same transfer window.

It seemed like a move that the Red Devils intended to make at the moment. The former Chelsea player finished his Premier League career on Merseyside with 25 goals, winning Player of the Season. He had scored 87 goals in 166 games for Everton.

Unfortunately, the transfer didn’t quite live up to expectations for Lukaku and his new team.

Although Lukaku would score goals for the Red Devils, Man United supporters had higher expectations since they thought he would be the final piece in the puzzle that would restore the team to its former glory.

However, in his two seasons in Manchester, his new team would fail to win a trophy under Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Nevertheless, Lukaku made a contribution, scoring 42 goals in 96 games for United before Inter Milan, a team from Italy, called in 2019.

After leaving Manchester United, how has Lukaku performed?

After receiving harsh criticism in Manchester, Lukaku would turn again into a dangerous attacker when donning the Inter Milan uniform and letting his game speak for itself.

In just 132 games, he would score a devastating 78 goals for Inter, making him a hero at the San Siro. A return to the Premier League with Chelsea would subsequently occur, but once more, Lukaku was unable to score regularly when a forced transfer to the English premier league happened.

Lukaku vs. Romelu in the Milan Premier League
After that, he would up and depart from Chelsea to play in Serie A for AS Roma, where he would once again be coached by Jose Mourinho, the head coach of the Red Devils.

With seven goals from nine games this season for Roma alone, he has already surpassed every player for Manchester United.

In contrast, Casemiro of Manchester United has scored four goals, making him the team’s sharpest shooter to date. Rasmus Højlund has scored three goals this season, but all of those goals have come in the Champions League. Erik ten Hag’s strikers have been goal scarce thus far.

As Ten Hag tries to find similar potency from his current crop of strikers, Lukaku has managed to put his terrible run with the Red Devils behind him and is still performing well in Italy.