It emerged recently that Manchester United and Juventus are considering a swap deal between Romelu Lukaku and Paulo Dybala.
The Belgian international Lukaku has had a pretty turbulent time since his mega deal to United and has never really won over The Old Trafford faithful. His goalscoring record, however, is respectable at worst. The 26 year old has scored 42 goals in 96 appearances for United, albeit just 12 in the premier league last season.
Meanwhile, with Dybala, there’s been a sense that he hasn’t quite lived up to expectation. It would be an exaggeration to say that the Argentine has struggled but it is fair to say that he hasn’t reached the heights many had expected him to reach so far in his career. Like Lukaku, his goalscoring record is quite good especially considering he has rarely played as the main striker. 78 goals in 182 games represent a very decent return. However, like Lukaku last season saw the goals dry up somewhat with just 5 goals in 30 games in the serie A, compared to 22 the previous season. He also has to fight for the limelight with the seemingly immortal Cristiano Ronaldo, a battle that no one but a certain Lionel Messi could possibly win.
United fans might not be able to believe their luck. With some of the comments from fans across social media, you’d think that Juventus were offering a brand new Lamborghini for an old 97′ ford fiesta but this deal is not quite as ridiculous as some would have you believe. These are two players who struggled to an extent last season and players who could do with a change of scenery. At 25 and 26 respectively, Dybala and Lukaku have arguably still have yet to reach the peak of their careers.
Dybala has been linked with several English clubs, including Manchester United, before and during his time in Turin while move to Italy for Lukaku has been touted as a possibility for some time now. Dybala could offer United the creative spark they’ve long been lacking and would suit Solskjaer’s fast paced style of play better than Lukaku. With Mandzukic now 33, Juventus are in need of a new man to lead their line alongside Ronaldo and Lukaku could be just the man they need. We know Sarri is a big fan and if he can hone his talents than the big Belgian could be a massive success for the Old Lady.
Deals like these are immensely complicated, not just to the sheer amount of money involved, but also the nature of the deal. Ed Woodward has a reputation of failing to get deals over the line and while that reputation is somewhat unfair it’s easy to see this particular transfer crumbling into disarray.
Image- The Guardian