{"id":335453,"date":"2017-07-11T06:30:13","date_gmt":"2017-07-11T06:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=335453"},"modified":"2017-07-11T06:30:13","modified_gmt":"2017-07-11T06:30:13","slug":"paul-pogba-played-a-big-role-in-my-utd-move-lukaku","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=335453","title":{"rendered":"Paul Pogba played a ‘big role’ in my Utd move – Lukaku"},"content":{"rendered":"

Romelu Lukaku says “best friend” Paul Pogba played a “big role” in his decision to sign for Manchester United.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old\u00a0has joined United from Everton\u00a0on a five-year contract for an initial \u00a375m, with the deal believed to include \u00a315m in add-ons.<\/p>\n

Striker Lukaku said he and Pogba, who moved to Old Trafford from Juventus last year, are “always together”.<\/p>\n

Speaking to\u00a0MUTV<\/i>, the Belgium international added that he had “the hunger to win trophies”.<\/p>\n

Pogba, who has referred to himself as ‘Agent P’, last week posted pictures on\u00a0social media<\/i>\u00a0of him and Lukaku together.<\/p>\n

Lukaku said: “He is one of my best friends, and he is my neighbour as well. We are always together on a daily basis so he would explain to me how things were going.<\/p>\n

“When he signed for United, to have witnessed that, it really triggered something in my brain and I knew that if one day I had the chance to sign then I would not say no.”<\/p>\n

Lukaku scored 25 Premier League goals for Everton last season, but in March said he did not “want to stay at the same level”.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Monday, he said: “You just know and realise how big the club is, and the hunger it has to win trophies.<\/p>\n

“I would like to say, at the end of my career, that I played for a team that has always challenged for trophies and this is what the club has always done.<\/p>\n

To be here now is a blessing and I will not take this opportunity for granted.”<\/p>\n

\"Lukaku\"lukaku\"<\/p>\n

United boss Jose Mourinho was manager of Chelsea when they sold Lukaku to Everton for \u00a328m in July 2014.<\/p>\n

The striker spent the 2013-14 season on loan at Goodison before signing a five-year deal that summer.<\/p>\n

Chelsea matched United’s offer to sign him from Everton, but Lukaku has been reunited with Mourinho.<\/p>\n

“I am really looking forward to it, that is the most exciting part,” he said. “We have a really good relationship and I always dreamed to play under him since I was 10.<\/p>\n

“To have the opportunity at 24 to work under him and to be part of his plans for challenges for trophies is exciting.<\/p>\n

“I think he is a manager to help us to win trophies and I can’t wait to start working under him again.”<\/p>\n

Lukaku has linked up with United on their pre-season tour of the United States, and trained with his new team-mates on Monday.<\/p>\n

His move to the Red Devils means he will play alongside midfielder Marouane Fellaini for club and country.<\/p>\n

Lukaku said: “He spoke to me two days ago and sent me a message saying: ‘Now you will discover how big and how great the club is.’ I said to him: ‘I have already realised it a little!’<\/p>\n

“To have a guy who plays with me in the national team and one of my best friends in life in my team is great to get to know the players.”<\/p>\n

Lukaku in stats<\/h3>\n
    \n
  • With two goals against Hull City in March, Lukaku became the first Everton player since Gary Lineker in 1985-86 to score 20 league goals in a season.<\/li>\n
  • Lukaku is also only the fourth player to score more than 80 goals in the Premier League before turning 24 (after Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler and Rooney).<\/li>\n
  • He has scored more goals than any other Everton player in Premier League history (68).<\/li>\n
  • Lukaku is one of only three players to have scored more than 10 goals in each of the past five Premier League seasons (alongside Olivier Giroud and Sergio Aguero).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

     <\/p>\n

    –<\/p>\n

    Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Romelu Lukaku says “best friend” Paul Pogba played a “big role” in his decision to sign for Manchester United. The 24-year-old\u00a0has joined United from Everton\u00a0on a five-year contract for an initial \u00a375m, with the deal believed to include \u00a315m in add-ons. Striker Lukaku said he and Pogba, who moved to Old Trafford from Juventus last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[142],"tags":[103,104,8444,8972],"class_list":["post-335453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football","tag-lukaku","tag-manchester-united","tag-paul-pogba","tag-romelu-lukaku"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=335453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335453\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=335453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=335453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=335453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}