Romelu Lukaku: Paul Pogba tried recruiting me for Man Utd by driving past Old Trafford

ROMELU LUKAKU has revealed that Paul Pogba used to deliberately drive him past Old Trafford in a bid to entice him to join Manchester United.
Lukaku and Pogba have been friends for some years and are neighbours in the Manchester area.

And when they went out for dinner in the city midfielder Pogba would ensure his route would take them past United’s iconic stadium to tempt the former Everton striker to join him at the club.

It clearly worked the trick because Lukaku, 24, joined Pogba at United after a £75m move from Everton earlier this month.

In an interview with the club’s TV station, Lukaku talked of the huge influence Pogba – who he holidayed with in Los Angeles this summer – played in the move.

He said: “I spoke with Paul a lot, obviously. We spent our holiday together and he said: ‘What do you want to do?’ I told him that I was thinking a lot about signing for United, something was telling me [to do it].
“I live near Manchester so, when I was coming to the city [centre], I would drive past Old Trafford and ask my mates what they thought. Me and Paul, we’d go to the city to have dinner and he’d drive past Old Trafford on purpose!”

Lukaku was also wanted by former club Chelsea but says he knew he had made the right decision from the moment he met the United squad for the first time in LA at the start of their pre-season tour earlier this month.

He added: “The first thing I noticed when I came to the meeting room on my first day with the team, I just felt something special. Loads of the players were saying that this group is quite special; we’re all young, hungry players.

“In training, everyone wants to be the best, everyone wants to win, so to be part of a team like that is great. Players like Marcus [Rashford], Jesse [Lingard], Micki [Henrikh Mkhitaryan], Juan [Mata], Ander [Herrera] – players like that are hungry to win trophies and it’s time for us. We need to work hard; the manager has a masterplan and we are here to follow it. Hopefully it’s going to take us to the top.”
Lukaku quit Goodison because he wants to play in the Champions League for the first time – and win trophies.

“That’s what I came here for [trophies],” he said. “Manchester United, for me, equals trophies. The biggest club in the world equals trophies. Growing up, I’ve seen United win the league every year, almost! You want to be a part of that history; it’s drilled into your head when you do training sessions with the players, you don’t want to be on the losing side.



“You don’t want to be on the losing side in the training sessions, in the friendlies or the official games, you want to win constantly and improve year after year. That is something that I wanted to feel. I wanted to feel that pressure, I wanted to feel that hunger – to be here now, I’m really grateful. I’m grateful to be part of the biggest club in the world, but there is a lot of work to be done, and I know that I need to work much harder than I have until now.

“I want to do it because, at the end of the day, I want the club to reach bigger heights, I want the players to win a lot of trophies and I want to create history with the club. Manchester United is the biggest club in the world, so we need to work hard to make sure the club gets there.”
Lukaku has scored over 100 goals in the past five years – including one season at West Brom and the last four with Everton – but he insists there is room for improvement and he is yet to reach his peak.

“You always have to work hard and believe that there’s something you can improve every year,” he said. “Every year, at the end of the season, I will look to all of the games that I have played and I will look to the negatives, to the positives, and take it further into the next year.

“I think the key to me scoring more and more every year is that I work during the off-season on my negative points and it helps me a lot.

“I don’t think I will peak now, and also in my mind I think it’s not how you start the race but it’s how you finish. In your career, you always have obstacles, but you need to make sure you have the consistency to go with it. I’m playing for the biggest club in the world, so I need to play like one of the best players and make sure that my team-mates win.”

Lukaku has scored twice for United so far on their tour, following his strike against Real Salt Lake City with one against Manchester City in Houston. He will be hoping to add to his tally when they take on Barcelona in their final tour game in Washington on Thursday.

Source:www.express.co.uk