NO Manchester United player has scored as many goals as Romelu Lukaku since the Belgian was signed from Everton in the summer of 2017. It’s not even close, in fact – Lukaku has found the net 42 times in all competitions in the last two seasons; Marcus Rashford’s total of 26 is the next best.
It seems unlikely that Lukaku will add to that tally, though. The 26-year-old is expected to move to Serie A before the current transfer window closes, with Inter Milan and Juventus interested.
But United’s loss of their most prolific centre-forward should not be cause for concern, provided they secure Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s reported preferred replacement: Lyon’s Moussa Dembele.
Romelu Lukaku has not travelled with Man United's squad to Norway.
Only a matter of time… pic.twitter.com/8aDHxb1UuA
— Footy Accumulators (@FootyAccums) July 29, 2019
Dembele’s career to date has been a quest for opportunity. He left Paris Saint-Germain at 16 to join Fulham, swapping the glamour of France’s dominant force for a clear pathway to first-team football. Out of contract after a breakout season in the Championship in 2015/16, he moved to Celtic.
The switch north of the border offered the young striker the chance to experience what it is like to lead the line for a dominant team, giving him a taste of the unique pressure that entails. Two seasons in Scotland – in which he scored an impressive 51 goals in 94 games – gave way to a return to France with Lyon.
In OL, he joined a vibrant young side with, unlike Celtic, the prospect of being competitive in Europe, reaching the last 16 in the Europa League and Champions League respectively in the last two campaigns.
And with each move have come tangible developmental strides. At 23, Dembele is among the most well-rounded young strikers in Europe – a cool finisher who can press in unison with his team-mates when out of possession; combining slick movement with intelligent link play; strong in the air and able to curl into the corner of the net from anywhere within 25 yards.
If Lukaku is to leave #MUFC this summer, any of these three strikers could fill his boots….https://t.co/2VdiaslFY4
— Unibet (@unibet) July 14, 2019
Now, it seems his biggest opportunity yet awaits Dembele, with United said to be ready to move for the France U21 international if Lukaku leaves as expected. And it is precisely the diverse skill-set he has cultivated on his odyssey either side of the Channel that makes him perfect for the new-look United attack Solskjaer is assembling.
Lukaku’s size and strength has often seen him characterised as a target man, but the Belgian’s combination play has always been slightly clumsy, his touch a little firm and his passing in the attacking third lacking deftness. Instead, he thrives as a poacher, when freed of the need to contribute in the build-up and allowed to focus on breaking into dangerous areas.
Dembele can’t boast a resume as impressive as Lukaku’s when it comes to scoring prolifically in one of Europe’s major leagues, and he is yet to make his senior France debut, whereas Lukaku is Belgium’s all-time highest scorer. But he would offer United more subtlety and fluidity. He is comfortable drifting wide to create space for others through the middle, mobile both horizontally across the frontline and vertically when moving directly at goal.
His combination of intelligent movement, work ethic and slick finishing is reminiscent of compatriot and former United No.9 Louis Saha. And while he may lack Lukaku’s intimidating size – standing exactly 6ft, to the former Everton man’s 6ft 3 – Dembele is a fine header of the ball and committed in aerial challenges, as well as being robust and tenacious in defensive one-v-ones.
Rafael :
"Moussa [Dembele], I'm not going to lie to him, I've spent eight years there, I'm not going to say bad things about Manchester United, but I want him to stay with us."#MUFC pic.twitter.com/htwH6y7yGe— Manchester United (@ManUnited_ENG_) July 29, 2019
Lukaku scored 12 Premier League goals last season; enough to make him United’s second-highest scorer, but it is also a tally he eclipsed in five of the previous six seasons. And he failed to register a single assist. Comparing statistics across different leagues is imperfect, but the fact Dembele provided more assists (4) and had a higher average per 90 minutes for expected assists (0.17 to 0.1) and key passes (1.3 to 0.9) than Lukaku in league action last season highlights a key stylistic difference between the two players.
Dembele also produced a better combined per 90 average for tackles and interceptions than Lukaku last season (0.6 to 0.4), which suggests the Frenchman is either more diligent or more efficient off the ball.
Questions were asked of Solskjaer – and indeed of the club’s decision to award him a permanent contract – when United finished last season so poorly. But part of Solskjaer’s reasoning for the drop-off was that his players were fatigued, and no longer able to play the kind of high-octane, intense-pressing game that had dragged them, against all odds, into top-four contention in his initial months in charge.
This season, he will demand a greater level of stamina from his front line, along with the ability to interchange positions seamlessly, link intuitively and press relentlessly. With these criteria, Lukaku no longer fits the brief. Dembele, though, ticks all the boxes.
