Romelu Lukaku says he can cope with the pressure of being Manchester United’s No. 9.
Ryan Giggs was one of the number of former United players to warn the striker of the increased scrutiny following his £75 million move from Everton in the summer.
The Belgium international has made a flying start to his career at Old Trafford with four goals in his first four competitive games, and ahead of a tricky Premier League trip to Stoke on Saturday and the start of the Champions League next week, he says he can handle the responsibility of being the club’s main goal scorer.
“You know the expectations are really high. But I was mentally prepared, I was just waiting for the opportunity to come,” he told the BBC.
“I wanted to play for [Jose] Mourinho since I was 11. When you get another chance like that, you don’t say no. I’m really grateful for the second opportunity.”
Lukaku is competing with Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial for a place in the United team, but after Christmas, Mourinho’s options will also include last season’s top scorer, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who was re-signed by the club last month.
The United manager has suggested he will pick the striker in the best form once Ibrahimovic returns to full fitness after knee surgery, and Lukaku says the 35-year-old’s comeback is a good thing — for him and the team.
“I think it’s really good for the team,” he said. “I think it’s good to have another guy who is hungry to win trophies. That’s what we want at Manchester United.
“With his personality, his character and also his attributes as a football player he can bring us a lot and we will try to help him. You relish competition. As long as it can make you better and makes you win you relish the challenge at the time.”
Meanwhile, a statement read: “Premier League clubs have agreed to a rule amendment that will see the summer transfer window in any year end at 17.00 on the Thursday before the start of the season.
“This is for Premier League clubs only and has no bearing on other leagues and competitions.”
The proposal, which had been mooted for some time, was not universally supported, though, with only 14 sides voting in favour of the change.
United and City opposed the amendment, along with Swansea, Crystal Palace and Watford, while Burnley abstained.
Historically, transfer windows – both in the summer and in January – have closed at the end of a calendar month.
This year saw teams have until 11pm on August 31 in which to get their business done, with the deadline passing on the same day in the vast majority of countries across Europe.
That will now no longer be the case, with Premier League sides at risk of losing players to continental rivals once their domestic campaign has started – without the possibility to bring in cover.
United clearly have their concerns regarding such a situation, despite Jose Mourinho previously stating that he would welcome alterations within the English game.
He said in mid-August: “I would prefer the window to close as soon as possible.
“So everybody knows the players we have and the deals will be done earlier and nobody would be waiting for the last week and we wouldn’t have the situation of sometimes a player plays game No. 1 for a team and game No. 2 for another team.”
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has claimed that an early deadline “would have helped us this year”, despite the Reds completing a £35 million deal for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain the final day of the window.
While other leading divisions across Europe are yet to follow the Premier League’s lead, it could be that further changes are on the way.
Photo: Dan Mullan/Getty Images
