It’s been an extremely tumultuous week at Manchester United, with not one, but two Jose Mourinho rants on the heels of team’s shock early exit from Europe.
However, striker Romelu Lukaku remains very optimistic about the future. The Belgian says that his side will have no problem bridging the gap between themselves and Manchester City/other UEFA Champions League title contenders this summer when they dip into the transfer market. Lukaku maintains that United, currently in second place and thus, very likely to earn another Champions League berth next season, remain a very attractive destination in the summer transfer window.
“We are Manchester United, we have to improve every year and I know that a lot of players, a lot of good players, will come in next season. That’s for sure. That is something I look forward to, in order to improve the squad, and what the manager also looks forward to because next year we have to win,” Romelu Lukaku said after yesterday’s 2-0 FA Cup win over Brighton & Hove Albion, which put them through to the semi-finals.
“We will have to try and win as many trophies as we can. I don’t believe we are really that short in being able to compete in the big competitions. We knew immediately after the game against Seville that we weren’t good enough, so we accept the criticism,” he added.
When United do hit the transfer market, they’ll be focused first and foremost on a holding midfielder, needing a replacement for the retiring Michael Carrick. The club should also look into shoring up its central defense. Mourinho has said that the club will not buy an attacking player this summer, having already acquired Alexis Sanchez in January.
However, that could very well change given a.) how badly the Chilean has struggled at Old Trafford so far and b.) Zlatan Ibrahimovic is out the door at the end of the year.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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