With every day passing, the chances of seeing Romelu Lukaku as a Manchester United player ahead of the 2019-20 season continue to decrease. And it seems his most likely destination will be the Italian Serie A, where both Inter Milan and Juventus are battling for his services.
Inter made a previous offer and United rejected it, so it seems Antonio Conte won’t get the striker he desperately wants to replace Mauro Icardi. Especially now that Juventus are preparing an offer for the Belgium international. According to a report from Sky Sports, The Old Lady are willing to include Paulo Dybala as part of a potential negotiation.
So far, Inter made a bid of £53.9m upfront for Lukaku with no add-ons earlier this week. However, United rejected the offer since they are looking to receive far more money for their star striker. Juventus have not submitted anything yet, but a figure close to that amount plus Dybala could make things work for them. Dybala has no space at Juventus at the moment, so he’s a valuable trade chip at Juventus. Plus, adding Lukaku could allow Cristiano Ronaldo to move back to a winger role. At least on paper, things make sense.
However, it is understood the Premier League club would want in excess of the £79m they paid to sign Lukaku from Everton in 2016 if they allow the 26-year-old to leave Old Trafford. That’s a massive amount of money for a player that scored 12 goals in 32 Premier League appearances for Manchester United during the 2018-19 season. Few players can spend that amount of money in just one player. And that ones that can already have more prolific strikers than Lukaku on their current squads.
Could this be a realistic offer? What will Manchester United do if Lukaku leaves anyway?
No one knows whether Juventus can go through with their proposal, though. There’s no clarity on whether Dybala would accept a Manchester United move, especially considering Tottenham are also after him. Rumours have indicated the former Palermo star would be open to sign for either Manchester United or PSG. But that might be nothing more than pure speculation.
The only thing that’s clear is that Manchester United already have a backup plan in case Lukaku leaves; he goes by the name of Moussa Dembele. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is a huge fan of the French striker, and would be open to sign him this summer. The former Celtic and current Lyon star would be a nice long-term addition to the current squad. However, adding Dybala to the mix would make things much better for The Red Devils.
Undoubtedly, we must keep waiting to see what’s going to happen. But if Lukaku is not playing for Manchester United once the 2019-20 Premier League season starts, that shouldn’t be a surprise for anyone following this transfer saga.
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