Lukaku reveals why he forced his Manchester United exit in 2019: 'I wasn't wanted'

Romelu Lukaku has detailed the breakdown in his relationship with Manchester United that led to his £74m move to Inter Milan in the summer of 2019, saying he felt unprotected by the club and ultimately told them it was better to part ways.

Speaking on NBA champion Josh Hart’s LightHarted podcast in an interview recorded before his departure, the now-Fenerbahce striker described weeks of damaging transfer speculation that nobody at Old Trafford moved to quash. “A lot of stuff has been said where I didn’t feel protected,” Lukaku said. “I felt like a lot of rumours — ‘Rom going there’, ‘They don’t want Rom’ — and nobody came out to shut it down. It was for a good three, four weeks. I’m waiting for someone to come out and shut it down. It didn’t happen.”

Lukaku, who joined United from Everton for £75m in 2017 following a career-best 25-goal season for the Toffees, scored 42 goals in 96 appearances across all competitions at Old Trafford — a respectable return, though not the transformative impact the club had anticipated for the fee. He said the persistent leaks about his future left him with little choice but to request a move. “I told them it’s not good for me to be at a place where I’m not wanted. We’re not stupid. They consider us dumb but we are not dumb. We know who is doing leaks and stuff.”

The Belgian also suggested he was among a trio of high-profile players who bore the brunt of criticism when results went wrong. “They have to find somebody,” he said. “It is Pogba, it is me or it is Alexis. It’s the three of us all the time.”

Lukaku went on to reinvent himself at Inter Milan, scoring 64 goals in 95 games and helping the club win the Serie A title in 2020. Now 33 and closing in on a remarkable international milestone, the striker has 93 goals in 133 appearances for Belgium and could reach the 100-goal mark in the coming Nations League fixtures.