Manchester: Manchester United’s bid to sign Everton’s Belgian international striker Romelu Lukaku for a record fee between British clubs of 75 million pounds (Dh355 million) looked nearer to completion on Friday as photos emerged of him training with Paul Pogba.
Lukaku, 24, was pictured on United star Pogba’s Instagram account training with his close friend — who has the same agent Mino Raiola — in Los Angeles where they are on holiday together.
With United due in Los Angeles this weekend to start a pre-season tour, the images supply further indications that Lukaku is Old Trafford bound. They also suggest that champions Chelsea are losing the race to sign their main transfer target — manager Antonio Conte has made no secret of his desire for temperamental Spanish striker Diego Costa to leave, with Lukaku earmarked as a possible replacement.
Lukaku, who is reported to have been offered wages of over 200,000 pounds a week by United, should have returned to England on Thursday for pre-season training with Everton.
Everton sources were adamant no deal had been struck with United whilst the buying club had told the BBC on Thursday terms had been agreed.
However, according to the British media the twin pronged persuasive powers of Pogba and Raiola have turned Lukaku’s head away from Chelsea and to United.
Raiola did extremely well out of United last year making an estimated 40 million pounds out of the Pogba transfer from Juventus alone while stablemates Henrykh Mkhitaryan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic also joined the ‘Red Devils’.
Ibrahimovic’s long-term injury suffered in a Europa League match last season and the fading powers of record goalscorer Wayne Rooney, who has also been linked with a return to his first club Everton, have made the capture of a top striker imperative for manager Jose Mourinho.
Apparent efforts to sign Real Madrid’s Alvaro Morata came to nothing leading United to switch their attention to Lukaku.
Everton — who have spent freely in the close season — are believed to have hoped to sell Lukaku for closer to 100 million pounds, which would have made him the world’s most expensive player, bettering the 89 million pounds that United spent on Pogba last year.
As it is, the deal would smash the record for a transfer fee between British clubs — the record is the 50 million pounds paid by Chelsea to Liverpool for Fernando Torres in 2011 — and register as the joint-fifth most expensive player of all time.
The deal would also see Everton make a tidy profit on the 28 million pounds they spent on Lukaku when then Chelsea manager Mourinho — now the United handler — sold him in 2014 after a successful loan spell.
Lukaku, who scored 53 Premier League goals in 110 appearances for the club since his permanent move, declined the most lucrative contract offer in Everton’s history at the end of last season, declaring he wished to play at a higher level.
United, meanwhile, have not yet given hope of signing Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Eric Dier, the Daily Telegraph reported.
Lukaku’s expected move to United has put the Old Trafford club’s bid to sign Chelsea midfielder Nemanja Matic in doubt.
Chelsea were already wary of strengthening a rival by sanctioning the sale of Matic to United and are now likely to be even more sceptical.
United have already seen one bid for Dier rejected this summer, but talks have continued in the background between executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy.
Levy has refused to put a price on Dier’s head, but it is believed Spurs would listen to an offer in the region of 50 million pounds for their England international.
Tottenham are under no pressure to sell Dier, or any of their other stars, and will only do business if they feel it is right.
Just as United were happy for people to assume they were going to sign Alvaro Morata while they worked on a deal for Lukaku, there is a sense that stories claiming they were on the verge of securing Matic may also have been convenient.
While United’s interest in Matic is genuine and they could yet try to convince Chelsea to sell to them, the Serb has only ever been third choice on their list of targets.
Dier has always been Mourinho’s top midfield target and United have not stopped working on negotiations over the 23-year-old at any point.
Should they fail to convince Levy to sell Dier, then Borussia Dortmund’s Julian Weigl is another alternative to Matic.
While he is happy at White Hart Lane, Dier is attracted to the promise of being given a permanent midfield spot at United, who could also double his 75,000-pound-a-week wages.
