Romelu Lukaku reveals when he informed Ole Gunnar Solskjær of his decision to leave Manchester United
- The Red Devils manager knew for a long time that Lukaku wanted to leave the club.
![Manchester United v FC Barcelona - UEFA Champions League Quarter Final: First Leg](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 594 396"></svg>)
Romelu Lukaku has revealed that he informed Ole Gunnar Solskjær about his intentions to leave Manchester United in March 2019. The Norwegian had just been appointed on a permanent basis at the time.
“Solskjaer has my eternal respect. He understood me when I said in March that it was time for me to leave England. I have been in the Premier League as an 18-year-old boy, and now I am 26. Solskjaer wanted to keep me, but I was ready for something new.” said Lukaku [H/T Het Belang van Limburg].
The former Chelsea and Everton striker was not at his best last season and came in for a lot of criticism from the United faithful. The striker was keen on leaving in the summer, but the Red Devils were not willing to sell him for cheap.
Inter Milan finally snapped him up after a lot of drama, with Juventus getting involved as well. Reports suggested that the Red Devils were close to agreeing a swap deal involving Lukaku and Paulo Dybala with the defending Serie A champions.
However, things did not go according to plan and United had to sell the Belgian striker to Inter for a club-record fee of €80 million. Following Lukaku's departure, United have been left with just Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial as the senior strikers in the squad as they failed to sign a replacement for the Belgian.
Published 16 Nov 2019, 22:26 IST
