Romelu Lukaku makes Manchester United watchable again

Romelu Lukaku is the second-most expensive player in the history of the Premier League, and he couldn’t be a more perfect fit for Manchester United. There were other great strikers on the market, but none quite like Lukaku, an incredible all-around athlete who completes United’s team identity.

Calling Lukaku “just” an athlete is something that happens frequently, and is unfair — no one consistently scores at Premier League and European level without good technical skills and a strong understanding of the mental side of the game. But he is among the biggest and strongest strikers in the world, while also possessing a quicker first step and greater speed over long distances than almost anyone else his size. These are the qualities that likely separated him from players with similar goal-scoring records in the minds of United staff.

Last season, fans regularly asked if United was better off without Zlatan Ibrahimovic on the pitch. The Red Devils looked more comfortable — and frankly, despite Ibrahimovic’s global popularity, more entertaining — with a faster striker up top. But the team wasn’t actually better without Ibrahimovic; he was the only top quality center forward in the squad. Ibrahimovic might not have been the best fit for the way United wanted to play, but his ability so far exceeded the alternatives that it made sense for the players around Ibrahimovic to play at a slower pace and make the most of his strengths.

Despite that, no one was wrong about the idea that United would be better with a theoretical striker who matched Ibrahimovic’s scoring output, but preferred to be played into space. So enter Lukaku, a player who loves to stay high and run directly at goal, rather than drop deep into the No. 10 space and play with his back to it. Playing with a striker who had those skills looked like a very natural adjustment for United’s midfielders behind him in United’s 4-0 win over West Ham on Sunday.

Jose Mourinho has a reputation as being a negative manager, but he’s really only that for the biggest games and in the Champions League knockout stage. For the other 40 or so matches per year, Mourinho’s teams have plenty of attacking freedom. Still, he seems to value shape more than most other managers, and his teams create more scoring opportunities through fast breaks forward than they do through build-up play.

And over the last few windows, United has built a perfect team for breaking forward quickly and attacking directly. Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan fit in very well with homegrown talents Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard. Nemanja Matic was another great pickup for this system; he’s more of a bully than Michael Carrick and better at picking the right pass to start counter-attacks than Marouane Fellaini, making him the perfect defensive midfielder for a Mourinho team.

The biggest early beneficiary of the additions of Matic and Lukaku appears to have been Mkhitaryan. After years of playing in fast, counter-pressing teams with Shakhtar Donetsk and Borussia Dortmund — with strikers like Luiz Adriano and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang — Mkhitaryan didn’t really know how to play with Ibrahimovic. But on a United team that’s always looking to move the ball forward quickly, Mkhitaryan looked rejuvenated — with one open play assist and one set piece assist, he’s already improved on last year’s service total.

All of the pieces finally appear to fit together for United. The team is working towards a defined style of play, with a squad of players who all fit it. And at the front of that team, grabbing all the glory, is a bulldozer that moves like a Ferrari.

By the time the ball gets to Lukaku, the other players have already done a lot of work. Fans of the opponent are already demoralized. Defenders are already scrambling. And there he is to apply the finishing touch; the final gut punch. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a great player who was an excellent signing for the Red Devils, but they’re considerably more terrifying with Lukaku up top instead.

Of course, there are a lot of necessary caveats to be applied to analysis of United — they’ve only played one game, Matic was inconsistent last season, Victor Lindelöf isn’t Premier League-ready, there are depth and quality problems at fullback, and United is struggling to find the old-school crossing winger that Mourinho wants. It’s still impossible to tell if they’ll be Premier League or Champions League contenders this season.

But here’s what we do know — United has a clear identity and the front six to execute, with Lukaku as the star of the show. For the first time since Ferguson’s retirement, watching Manchester United will not feel like a chore.