Pundit says Mourinho has made bid for Lukaku
UNITED made a bid for Everton striker Romelu Lukaku, according to ESPN pundit Paul Marriner.
Lukaku, 24, was understood to be one of United’s contingency options after Antoine Griezmann decided to stay at Atletico Madrid – but Chelsea are the favourites to sign the Belgium international.
United were also put off Torino figurehead Andrea Belotti’s £88m release clause and have prioritised signing Alvaro Morata as Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s replacement.
Former Ipswich player Marriner, who has been based in the US as a pundit and coach for nearly 30 years, claimed he was informed of United’s attempt to sign Lukaku by Everton’s ‘sporting director’, a probable reference to their director of football Steve Walsh.
“My mate is now the sporting director at Everton,” Marriner said on ESPN. “I had a good chat with him and they’re going to spend a lot of money this summer.
“They feel as if it’s time they broke into that top four, it’s a big ask but that’s what Ronald Koeman and the staff want to do.
“They’ve had bids for Lukaku, mainly from Manchester United and Chelsea. It’s a lot of money, I personally wouldn’t be paying that sort of money. They think they can hold out for it but they’ve already added to the squad.
“It’s going to be very, very interesting to see if they improve and I think they will improve.” UNITED had banked a world record £80m and shelled out £16m for a replacement.
While the Reds were dealing with Real Madrid on the export side, they were coming to an agreement with Wigan Athletic on the import arm of the business.
The summer of 2009 was underwhelming and infuriating for United fans.
Having announced they’d agreed to sell Cristiano Ronaldo to Real, just 24 hours before the Bernabeu move was complete, Sir Alex Ferguson signed Antonio Valencia from Wigan eight years ago yesterday. The rumour mill had linked United with Karim Benzema and Arjen Robben that close season so the purchase of the Ecuadorian was greeted with an avalanche of flak for owners the Glazer family.
The Americans were accused of pocketing the Ronaldo fee and not loosening the purse strings to adequately replace him.
The quiet winger was caught in the middle of the unrest and disquiet.
But just a week before Ronaldo was adding more Champions League glory to his CV with Real in Cardiff, Valencia was leading United out for the Europa League final in Stockholm.
It was an honour that reflected the example of the consummate professional.
Jose Mourinho’s choice for the armband against Ajax was largely due to the fact he had first-choice skipper Wayne Rooney and vice-captain Michael Carrick on the bench but United’s third-longest-serving player Valencia was a more than deserving recipient of the job. He wasn’t chosen for his vocal leadership but there was not a better role model when it comes to battling adversity and showing resolute fortitude. The 32-year-old has fought and won many battles at Old Trafford. Fights that might have seen many wave the white flag. Whether you have been labelled Ronaldo’s replacement rightly or wrongly it was a label that dogged Valencia’s early spell bedding down. Making the transition from the DW Stadium to Old Trafford was one thing but throw in the Ronaldo scenario and you have an altogether bigger deal to cope with. To follow your first baptism of fire campaign with a careerthreatening horror leg break injury against Rangers in the Champions League in September 2010 was just piling on the obstacles for Valencia. Astonishingly he was back in Fergie’s line up to face Barcelona at Stuart Mathieson