*Anybody who believes Ole let Lukaku go without being promised a replacement is naive at best or thick at worst in my opinion. Either that or they have much more faith in Ed Woodward than they should by now.
Lies, lies, and even more lies.
Lukaku was sold to Inter on deadline day, this was a week after Dybala had rejected us. Which in turn meant Juve also refused to sell us Manduzkic as they didn't have a replacement. It's easy to blame Woodward for every shortcoming from Ole, but he is only going to buy a striker if Ole wants one. Browse through the transfer tweets thread from May until August and find me one striker who was on our agenda through those months? You'll hear about names such as Sancho, AWB, James, Maguire, Longstaff continously but absolutely no links for a new striker.
Dybala/Lukaku proposed swap just tells you how badly this club is still run, a top player was available sure but was he someone ever on our radar? Did Ole or his management ever thought about where he'd fit in, or was it another move like Mata where you'll sign the player and later find a role for him?
Then you had us inquiring for Manduzkic too? 10 days before the end of window, with no backup plan for a 2nd forward? Does that tell you this lot have any semblance of plan through which they are working?
This is what he told us after selling Lukaku and not buying a replacement i.e. to prioritise the development of Mason Greenwood.
Solskjaer said when asked if the attack was better than last term. "We do have players we think will make an impact. And Mason Greenwood's pathway would have been a lot more difficult, of course, if we had another forward there. So, for me, I believe Mason is going to be playing and involved a lot and when he is he'll score goals."
This is what he told us after binning Sanchez on loan AFTER the window had closed, yes he'd been shit but he was still one more body who could fill in at the time of injury-crisis.
"I think Alexis needed to go. It has not really worked out for him, for him as well. It will only benefit everyone. I think Alexis needed to go. It has not really worked out for him, for him as well. It will only benefit everyone.
I’m trusting Marcus, Anthony, Mason to be our centre forwards. We’ve got loads of options and for me it is time for our boys to feel the pressure. It is something which we are looking forward to."
With Lukaku leaving permanently to Inter, and Alexis Sanchez joining him on loan, United are short of strikers this season and, speaking to Sky Sports, Solskjaer revealed he's happy with what he's got, saying "I can say [I am a striker short], but that was the decision that I made and I made it happily."
I'd be inclined to believe in Oles' propaganda if he didn't continuously contradict himself, weeks later he'd tell us we are short of strikers and it didn't take a 'rocket scientist' to recognize that. There is plethora of quotes where Ole has continously back-tracked and refuted his previous statements. I'll probably prepare a new thread at the close of season consisting of Oles' quotes contradicting himself.
I can see the poor results, i'm not blind or even remotely biased towards Ole however I don't chose to ignore the above in order to fit an Ole-Out narrative.
Sure