The Manchester United squad have scored just 12 more goals than Romelu Lukaku has in his career as Inter striker hits 250
Manchester United have appeared to be in desperate need of a goalscorer since the start of the season.
The Red Devils, who sit ninth in the table after 13 games, have scored 19 goals in the Premier League this season, less than Burnley (20) and the same amount as newly-promoted Aston Villa.
Romelu Lukaku, meanwhile, the man sold to Inter for £72million in August. has scored 15 times for club and country.
Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford, who are both primarily wingers, have been playing through the middle following the departure of Lukaku.
And Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s failure to bring in a replacement has left his side short of firepower.
Despite dividing the United fanbase, Lukaku was prolific during his time in Manchester, scoring an impressive 42 goals in 96 appearances.
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And now, Solskjaer has had to rely on 18-year-old Mason Greenwood to provide cover for Martial and Rashford.
The manager has confirmed United’s next priority will be to sign a striker with RB Salzburg wonderkid Erling Braut Haaland and Mario Mandzukic linked to Old Trafford.
And while they have lacked options up front, Lukaku has been in fine form for club and country.
He scored in a 3-1 win over Slavia Prague, which was his 250th career goal, and provided a sublime outside-of-the-boot assist for Lautaro Martinez’s second goal late on.
To highlight how impressive that is at the age of 26, the current Manchester United squad have scored just 12 more goals than Lukaku has in his career.
He has made a career out of scoring since coming through the ranks at Anderlecht in spells with Chelsea, West Brom, Everton and now Inter, while he is Belgium’s all-time top scorer with 52 goals.
Rashford is United’s top scorer with 55 goals, followed closely by Martial’s 53, while Juan Mata is third on 45.
The current Manchester United squad's goals
- Victor Lindelof – 1 goal in 83 games
- Eric Bailly – 1 goal in 74 games
- Phil Jones – 5 goals in 220 games
- Marcos Rojo – 2 goals in 122 games
- Ashley Young – 18 goals in 255 games
- Luke Shaw – 1 goal in 110 games
- Brandon Williams – 1 goal in eight games
- Paul Pogba – 31 goals in 148 games
- Juan Mata – 45 goals in 230 games
- Jesse Lingard – 30 goals in 184 games
- Andreas Pereira – 3 goals in 52 games
- Fred – 1 goal in 39 games
- Daniel James – 3 goals in 17 games
- Nemanja Matic – 3 goals in 91 games
- Scott McTominay – 5 goals in 63 games
- Anthony Martial – 53 in 185 games
- Marcus Rashford – 55 goals in 188 games
- Mason Greenwood – 4 goals in 19 games
Meanwhile, Jesse Lingard finally ended his drought in a United shirt with his goal against Astana having not found the target in almost an entire year in the Premier League.
Conte praised Inter’s blossoming strike partnership of Lukaku and Martinez following their win against Slavia Prague.
“I do not like to talk about players individually, I much prefer to talk about the whole team but certainly our two strikers, Romelu and Lautaro Martinez, played very well,” he said.
“I am very happy for them because it is important for the attackers to score and above all if these goals give us the opportunity to move on to the next round.”