The big Belgian managed to outscore the Swede by 25 goals to 17 last season
Juan Mata shared a picture of himself wearing Romelu Lukaku’s boots in the Manchester United changing rooms this week. Unsurprisingly, the diminutive Spanish playmaker managed to fill a fraction of the Belgian’s 13.5 size boots. The irony will not have been lost on Utd’s new £75m record signing, who having been snatched from under the noses of Premier League champions Chelsea, will be charged with leading the line for Jose Mourinho as he bids to improve on a disappointing league campaign that saw the Reds finish a distant sixth in the title race.
This poor finish was achieved despite Zlatan Ibrahimovic plundering 17 goals as the reds finished the season with just 54 goals scored (one less than 9th placed Bournemouth). With the talismanic Swede out injured until the new year and officially released by the club earlier this summer, the need for Lukaku to hit the ground running cannot be underplayed. The Belgian finished last season with 25 goals, clear of every other striker in the Premier League bar the fast-finishing Harry Kane. Jose Mourinho and Utd fans will both be hoping the 24-year-old can at least match those numbers again this season, now playing in a team of attacking talent put together at great expense.
Bookmakers are certainly confident the former Chelsea striker will thrive at the Theatre Of Dreams, pricing him up at 4/7 to score more than 16 league goals in his debut season (in the previous two season he’s hit 18 and 25 respectively for Everton). Elsewhere, he’s 6/1 to smash the current goals record for the season of 31 currently held by Alan Shearer, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez and score 33 or more league goals.
Everton fans will have been gutted to have seen their top scorer leave but most have done so with no real hard feelings. That positivity could easily be lost however if he was return to haunt his former club and he’s 4/1 to score both home and away against his former employers.
Following the confirmation of his signing, the man who has scored more goals than Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo at the same age, was cut from 5/1 to as short as 4/1 to finish the season with the Golden Boot. Those who think he will top the charts for both club and country in the next 12 months can snap up 66/1 on him winning the Golden Boot and finishing top scorer in next summer’s World Cup.
Lukaku made the move to win trophies although bookies believe he has more chance of not winning a medal this season (8/11) than he does of adding to his league title with Anderlecht and FA Cup winners’ medal at Chelsea (21/10). However, in terms of league position at least, the bookmakers believe he made the right choice in joining Jose as Utd are 4/5 to finish above Chelsea next season.
