'Me, slow? Lazy?' - Lukaku hits back at his Man United critics

Romelu Lukaku hit back at his Manchester United critics, who labeled him ‘lazy’ and ‘slow’ by pointing out his contributions for Inter Milan.

Despite bagging a respectable 42 goals in 96 games, Lukaku never quite lived up to expectation at Manchester United.

The Belgian, who established a reputation as one of the Premier League’s most lethal attackers during spells at West Brom and Everton, didn’t justify his €84.7m price tag in the eyes of his critics.

Falling out of favor under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer amid doubts over his fitness and quality while in possession of the ball was the last straw. Especially as Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial won favor instead. The emergence of young Mason Greenwood from the academy prompted further concerns over Lukaku.

It ultimately led to the 27-year-old leaving for Inter last summer in a €74m deal. He’s since rediscovered his best form, scoring 37 goals in just 53 games.

“A year ago, when I was in England, I was ‘lazy, I didn’t run, I didn’t do this and that’,” Lukaku told The Times.

“Here, they call me the hardest worker in the room. If you look at me playing here and there, I mean, there are improvements but the [same] Rom is still there.

“If you look at me now you see a different outcome, you see the full person, you see the full potential. You see what I could have been doing in England.

“They will call me slow and I’m like, ‘slow? Me, slow? I cannot keep up with the fast pace game of Man Utd?”

“There were too many little things where I thought: this is not right. If you call me slow I would not score a goal like I scored the second against Shakhtar Donetsk in the [Europa League] semi-final.

“If I was slow I would not have got the penalty like I did against Sevilla in the final. That’s two years after.

“Are you going to say me at 27 is faster than I was at 25? That’s what I’m trying to say. It’s just little things. I was like, you know what? Eff this. I’m out.”