Well 'worrying' re: they're rather different players with very different skillsets. So did we plan it at all, or just attempt to get one and stick with that approach?!
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......would it not be more worrying to identify a single target and not sign anybody should it not happen. They were the only two acceptable striker options, seems we went for both to varying degrees of intensity- and this is a cause of concern for fans? At the other end of the spectrum you have a moyes summer where you pursue priorities and get nobody.
I not exactly sure what some fans want.
It was all planned. We went after both with the intent of getting one of them. The media just publicised the Morata transfer more because Mourinho brought up Morata at Real whilst he offloaded Lukaku at Chelsea. Logically speaking, no one expected Mourinho to go after a striker that he let go of previously, but in reality, we were going after both in the hope that we'd land one of them. Obviously, they have different traits, but I'm guessing that Mourinho wanted a striker who can receive long balls from the back and hold the ball up so that the team can push up. Both can do that (albeit differently), and we just got Lukaku, in the end.
Nothing seemed too sudden for me. The only thing sudden was our dying interest in Morata after we bought Lukaku.
Fair point, noted.
My thing is surely we'd be after the same type of striker (or whatever position) and have options to pull one of them off. It's like going for a creative midfielder and ending up with a tough tackling hardman midfielder. Makes you question what we wanted and what the plan was (if any). Maybe I'm just reading too much into it all.
Too short
From my understanding, Real were difficult in negotiations for one reason or another. And Lukaku ended up becoming available (likely due to our connection to Raiola), along with Everton's mutual interest in Rooney. Real ended up selling Morata to Chelsea for a fee cheaper than what was being quoted for us in the papers, so maybe it was just pettiness on Real's end.
I personally think it's harder to score for West Brom and Everton as a starter than real Madrid and juventus as a sub. All that said I was pro a morata signing in summer because I thought a lukaku signing would signal a worse style of play. But as per calibre of goal scorer it isnt close
Because Perez is a cnut who was still salty about their end messing up the De Gea deal. They tried to rip us off and instead sold him to Chelsea for less than they asked of us.
This is just a case of grass seeming greener on the other side.
Unfortunately the club chose Lukaku
What if you were choosing the next James Bond?
Idris Elba and James Norton are your two available options. Elba is known to command a high salary, let's say $9 million. Norton is asking for $8 million even though his previous roles averaged $5 million. Which actor do you sign assuming they can't audition and you must go off their previous roles?
Hmmmm??? What do you decide?
Idris Elba and James Norton are your two available options. Elba is known to command a high salary, let's say $9 million. Norton is asking for $8 million even though his previous roles averaged $5 million. Which actor do you sign assuming they can't audition and you must go off their previous roles?
Hmmmm??? What do you decide?
Mourinho has never went after players he felt weren't possible. He probably felt that Lukaku was heading to Chelsea and chose not to waste time pursuing something futile. So, we went for Morata and RM being RM, was being a pain in the ass. Furthermore, Chelsea were stalling because they thought they were the only player in the market for Lukaku.
So, once we knew Chelsea were low balling everton, we went in and go the man.
So, once we knew Chelsea were low balling everton, we went in and go the man.
Probably didnt want him, back up to the Lakaku deal for us and Chelsea. When we got Lakaku, they signed Morata. Would have been the other way around if theyd signed Lakaku.
I still think Lakaku is the better player, hes jusy going through a drought. When it ends he'll be banging them in again.
I still think Lakaku is the better player, hes jusy going through a drought. When it ends he'll be banging them in again.
Strikers have periods of drought and periods when they are on fire. Thats just how it is. Kane is on fire at the moment, Lukaku is in a slump. I think with a couple of decent signings (a better creative 10 and a winger to supply decent crosses) he will prove his worth over time. Morata is doing no better overall and has had the luxury of many of his goals coming from inch perfect crosses from Azpilicueta. However, I have just read a story reporting that Lukaku has been hitting the weights and has put on half a stone of muscle since joining Utd loosing him half a yard of speed. He's always been a big lad but i must admit recently he has the physique of a heavyweight boxer - if so this needs to be addressed quickly - what is it with United and players not being able to stay at an optimum weight ! Rooney, Depay, Shaw, Micky .... i don't read these stories about City players..
His height also helped Jose in his decision. Jose likes tall players who can play football.
Lukaku is 2cm taller. Not much IMO
Morata was our first choice. Sure, we talked to Lukaku even before that, but that is normal. Multiple targets are contacted initially for inquiring about interest.
Woodward didn't want to cough up the 90 million Real were asking as revenge for the fax machine. He spends top dollar for marketable players like Pogba, but Morata is not the marketable type -- not yet anyway. So we moved on. Mistake in my opinion.
Woodward didn't want to cough up the 90 million Real were asking as revenge for the fax machine. He spends top dollar for marketable players like Pogba, but Morata is not the marketable type -- not yet anyway. So we moved on. Mistake in my opinion.
I bet you this won't be the case. See, now we can quote eachother in 3 years.
How much difference is there?
My take on it is that we likely ranked them pretty much even and were happy with either, so since we thought we could get Morata significantly cheaper we focused more on him. Once it became obvious that Real Madrid were going to feck us around and the price would end up being roughly the same, we changed over to the one who was proven in this league.
This seems the most plausible imo. Would also explain Morata's red hair, his fiance suddenly following United social media then abruptly unfollowing when we announced Lukaku.
It's simple. Perez was fecking around with us. If we allowed him to, he would increased the transfer fee and basically toyed with us all summer. Ed rightly fecked him off. Nothing we could do about that unless we wanted to be Madrid's bitch.
Think that comment was a tongue in cheek because Morata is 6'2.
Morata is 1.89 & Lukaku 1.91 so not much between them.
How is the question I keep on asking. Don't get me wrong I myself like Morata but he like Lukaku vastly depends on other people's service, also Morata's most goals have come from head and considering how little service he would have got here, how would he have been effective. Morata is no Henry, peak rooney ,Suarez or even Sanchez who can change the game on his own so how would he have made any difference. Also, let us not forget Morata always has his best game whenever Hazard is on his A game, we do not have any Hazard esque players with us. Both Martial and Rashford are still learning their trade and our fullbacks are hardly good crossers so Morata like Lukaku would have been feeding of scraps. And one more thing he would have been under more pressure if he was playing for us and knowing how media works we would have surely seen 5 articles of how he does not like Manchester and he wants to leave.
As a Chelsea fan I still often wonder how much of José going after Lukaku was to spite Chelsea and Conte in particular who he seems to dislike. No one can tell me he didn't have a laugh and toast his mates the night you guys pipped us to the signing. Likewise, Conte was probably breaking everything in his immediate vicinity.
Anyways, both will be big hits. I also disagree with several in this thread saying Lukaku would be doing better in our team than Morata is.
Anyways, both will be big hits. I also disagree with several in this thread saying Lukaku would be doing better in our team than Morata is.
My understanding is, Real Madrid wanted too much, so you decided to go with Lukaku. Hard to say which was necessarily 1st choice, United would have almost certainly been negotiating with Real and Everton at the same time and trying to get prices before deciding which one to go with.
What's pretty certain is that Morata for whatever reason thought he was going to United, and that Lukaku was Chelsea's 1st choice.
It then seems Real realised they were pricing teams out and lowered their demands, which is rather strange given that Chelsea were desperate for a striker at the time and didn't appear to have a lot of options.
What's pretty certain is that Morata for whatever reason thought he was going to United, and that Lukaku was Chelsea's 1st choice.
It then seems Real realised they were pricing teams out and lowered their demands, which is rather strange given that Chelsea were desperate for a striker at the time and didn't appear to have a lot of options.
Sounds like he really wants Morata but the board cheaped out.
i think "proven in the premier league" is a message board/forum consideration.
i don't think managers/clubs at the level United operates would not purchase a player that the manager truly wanted because of that.
I'm not saying clubs don't run risk assessment regarding their targets, but you don't scout a player for potentially months, and engage in negotiations to then stop at "eh, might not do so well against stoke. we are better off buying the lad that's used to playing at west brom"
I don't know if people know but Morata was Jose's boy when in Real. We don't really know what went behind the scenes, but I m sure Pogba played a part on the transfer. Lukaku and he are close. They even have the same agent, Raiola.
I m sure not proven in EPL was a factor when price was discussed. However, I m not that impressed with Morata so far. Plus, I read somewhere he wanted to go back to Spain. Then he came out and retracted on his statement, saying he was misquoted or something.
I m sure not proven in EPL was a factor when price was discussed. However, I m not that impressed with Morata so far. Plus, I read somewhere he wanted to go back to Spain. Then he came out and retracted on his statement, saying he was misquoted or something.
Because we were after a target man to take Zlatan's place and Lukaku fit that bill better than Morata.
There's really not much between Morata and Lukaku. They have different skill-sets, but both will probably score 20+goals a season for 5+ seasons and help their teams to trophies, and neither will become a Torres/Villa/Drogba level striker. They both have a lot, but just lack something special I feel.
My understanding was that Real were demanding De Gea in return which fecked things up. Only real reason I can see why we'd want Lukaku instead as first choice was his Prem experience; certainly not better than Morata on the face of it.
Except that Lukaku's first touch and reluctance to use his physique make him a weaker target man that Morata, who genuinely goes in on his centre back.
I'm not saying Morata would have been more effective leading United's line, just that the attack would function differently. That's based on their varying skill sets. Lukaku has been played primarily as a target man, while Morata is more suited toward playing interlink with Hazard (Lingard).
Lukaku's had a few brilliant moments of interplay (second-assists, the pass that leads to the assist), but he squanders more chances than he creates. That's something Morata, Lingard, Mata, and Martial would have thrived at, I suspect.
Oh dear you think Jose and Conte are in kindergarten? They are in charge of biggest clubs, they don't spend so much big money to spite others.
Because Lukaku is a Raiola client.
Every Raiola client we sign means money in an offshore bank account for Jose.
Wake up people.
Every Raiola client we sign means money in an offshore bank account for Jose.
Wake up people.
Utter nonsense that is; Morata is garbage as a lone striker. 'Going in' for Morata is flopping to the floor at every opportunity as if he forgot he left La Liga.
Morata without Hazard as a partner this season would be a flop; he can't play by himself. Morata with Hazard is a good striker.
Morata has shown virtually no competency as a lone striker. At Juventus he was partnered with someone else and at Madrid he was a super sub.
Conte has used Hazard and Morata as a partnership because he knows Morata's weaknesses.
It's true that Morata has been struggling in terms of physicality/refereeing so far (although still less than you make it seem). But being a lone striker is more than that, and Morata is very good at several of those aspects.
The Hazard/Morata partnership works because Morata has the intelligence and ability to link up with him, it's not a one-way thing. It also shouldn't be forgotten that the Azpilicueta/Morata partnership is extremely effective this season, which has little to do with Hazard, but a lot with Morata's qualities as a CF.
Who said it was a one way thing?
Morata is a good striker when he can play off someone else next to him.
Morata is not the correct profile for a lone striker, and its obvious to see. He does not physically occupy defenders; which is a must for a lone striker because you will always be outnumbered. Smaller strikers like Suarez and Aguero are more physically imposing than him because they use their strength much better and are better in other aspects as well.
Morata's goals from crosses comes from his good movement, not his efficiency in physical battles. Virtually every header he has scored was from him peeling off a defender and having more space to get a good shot on. A striker with good movement but not the physical qualities is a player that is at his best with other players around him.
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