Football journalist David Ornstein has been sharing some insight into Manchester City’s reported transfer interest in Romelu Lukaku.
This comes after Ornstein recently co-hosted the latest episode of The Athletic’s Ornstein & Chapman Podcast where he spoke about a number of topics concerning a range of clubs in the Premier League.
On the subject of City’s reported interest in signing Lukaku, Ornstein had this to say on the matter. (9.53)
He said: “Romelu Lukaku is very highly thought of and it took me by surprise when I found out about it a while ago and that’s why I did some more work on it.
“It is critical, they think a lot of him. He presents most likely a better value option than the likes of [Lionel] Messi, possibly [Erling] Haaland, [Kylian] Mbappe and [Harry] Kane certainly who, Daniel Levy is not going to let go to a rival and if he did let him go anywhere, it’d be an astronomical fee.
“[Kane is] the same age as Lukaku. They’re both under contracts until 2024. It won’t be easy to get Lukaku out of Inter Milan for any club. They do, though, have some quite severe financial problems.
“The Manchester United background, I don’t think would come into play. He was there for a relatively short amount of time and he’s not Manchester born and bred.”
After leaving Manchester United in the 2019 summer transfer window for a move to Inter Milan in a deal worth a reported fee of £66.6 million, the Belgian, who is currently valued at £81 million, has gone on to make 78 appearances for the Italian side in which he has managed to score 54 goals and provide nine assists (per Transfermarkt).
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TIF Thoughts on David Ornstein’s comments on City’s interest in Lukaku…
Given how Lukaku has racked up a total of 113 Premier League goals throughout his career, this shows why the Manchester club are reportedly interested in signing the striker and adding him to Pep Guardiola’s squad.
In our view, given Lukaku’s experience in the Premier League, he would be a suitable replacement for Sergio Aguero if he were to leave the club when his current deal runs out at the end of June.