LUKAKU, SMALLING AND SANCHEZ IN SERIE A

Lukaku, Smalling & Sanchez How are things going in Serie A?

While various ex-Premier League stars continue to shine in Serie A, others have failed to live up to expectations. Since losing the trio of Lukaku, Smalling and Sanchez, United have had mixed results, unlike Lukaku and Smalling, who have blossomed in Italy with Inter and Roma, respectively.

Meanwhile, Alexis Sanchez’s career seems to be cascading even further south, as the once talismanic Chilean has hardly kicked off life at the San Siro with a bang. Having only played 6 games so far, all as a substitute, he has so far managed one goal in a game he also got sent off in. To make matters worse, he also suffered a tendon injury which saw him sidelined for 3 months. That’s not to say that his days as a footballer are completely over, but he may have to take a step-down in the future if he wants to regain the confidence and form that once made him one of the hottest prospects in world football. by Martin Calleja Urry

The ex‑Barcelona and Arsenal star has definitely seen better days, but overall, both United and Sanchez are better off having parted ways. His massive wage bill, a percentage of which United are still paying for while he’s at Inter, put an unnecessary financial strain on the club and also upset the wage balance. As fans of football, we can only hope that Sanchez regains his form of old and continues to terrorize defenses worldwide, but Inter fans are hardly waiting at the edge of their seat, as the club continues to strengthen with other ex-Premier League stars like Eriksen.

With Lukaku having formed a solid strike partnership with Lautaro Martinez, the duo have scored over 25 goals between them, with 14 coming courtesy of the Belgian. Back in England, Rashford has been in red-hot form and Greenwood and Martial have also bagged their fair share of goals, but the loss of a consistent goal getter like Romelu has still dealt us a significant blow. Tall, bulky, clumsy and often with a misplaced first touch, Lukaku would often become the main target of fans’ criticism, but despite the intermittent hate, still delivered consistent numbers. The failure to sign another marquee striker, or even a backup for Rashford, was what really made Lukaku’s loss hurt.

Sure, he may not be remembered in years to come as having been one of United’s best ever strikers, but the decision to sell him at that time was slightly naïve, given there was no one to replace him. While it’s easy to say with hindsight, we should have kept him for at least one more season before saying our goodbyes. At Inter he has hit a rich vein of form which leaves many of us wondering, if we had structured the team around him and a fellow striker partner, would things have gone down differently? Regardless, Romelu has done ever so well for himself to manage to pick himself back up and conquer the new challenge. Perhaps his style of play is just better suited to the slightly less intense, more defensive-minded style in Serie A.

His arrival in Italy was marred by controversy, as both him and his ex-team mate Smalling were front and centre on ‘Corriere dello Sport’, an Italian newspaper which decided to use the headline ‘Black Friday’ when the duo arrived in Italy. Ole was quoted as saying it was the ‘worst front page I’ve ever seen’, while the Italian paper claimed they were only attempting to, rather insensitively, celebrate diversity.

As Lukaku settled into life at Inter, he bagged a goal against Cagliari from the penalty spot, but the opposing fans did not let him get off scot-free. As he stepped up, he was met with racist monkey chants which are usually aimed at players of African descent. Weirdly enough, the Inter ultras released a statement practically defending the Cagliari fans, insisting the chanting is not actually rooted in racism, but simply used as a means to distract the opponent, suggesting there is no real racism problem in Italy. Luckily for the Belgian, he has not let it get in his way and since then went on an absolute scoring rampage, but it’s fair to say his new club is not without a different set of challenges, as racism in the Premier League, while not non-existent, is much rarer and holds harsher consequences.

Onto the next main man in Italy, Chris Smalling, whose career has been completely overhauled. Nine out of ten of us knew for a fact that his career was as good as done, but how wrong we all were. Nicknamed ‘Smaldini’, after the Milan legend Paola Maldini, Smalling has quickly made a name for himself amongst the Roma faithful and has regularly been man of the match in a loan move which has effectively revitalized his career. Nobody would have imagined that United would come crawling back to the ex-Fulham man, but with Lindelof and Maguire failing to solidify their partnership at the back, suddenly having Smalling back doesn’t seem so bad.

In fact, if rumours are true, Ole has made it a priority to bring the Englishman back to the club when his loan deal ends. At 30 years old, he still has a lot left to give the club who signed him back in 2010. Another option could be to sell him to Roma, and use the cash to splash on a younger centre-back who would effectively share the burden with Lindelof, as Maguire takes centre-stage as our number one man at the back.

It’s fair to argue that United are still reeling from the 2018/2019 transfer window, in which clearly, we failed to strengthen enough. Mourinho’s lacklustre window saw the likes of Dalot, Fred and Grant joining up the other Reds, but none of them helped strengthen the first team. With that being said, all of Ole’s signings have been positive, but the fact that we scrambled so much to sign a midfielder in Bruno and an emergency striker in Ighalo, shows that our previous windows didn’t quite meet up to expectations.

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