Romelu Lukaku accomplished what Manchester United paid £75 million for on Sunday as Jose Mourinho's team opened its Premier League season with a 4-0 victory over West Ham United.
Lukaku scored twice, once in the first half with a sweet finish in off the post to set United on the way to three points, the second a glancing header on 52 minutes to double his side's advantage.
Mourinho kept a straight face at full-time but the Machiavelli inside the Portuguese manager, barely suppressed even at his sunnier moments, will surely have been cackling.
This was the weekend when Chelsea's apparent off-field dysfunction gained physical manifestation, in a calamitous 3-2 defeat to Burnley at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea had two players sent off, too, and a grim weekend was compounded Sunday evening when the Daily Mail published an interview with exiled striker Diego Costa in which the Spaniard laid several heavy boots into manager Antonio Conte.
Lukaku could have gone to Chelsea, Mourinho's former club, this summer and probably would have done so had it not been for the influence of his close friend Paul Pogba. United snuck in as quickly and as quietly as you can with £75 million in a suitcase and Chelsea turned to another of Mourinho's targets, the Spain and Real Madrid striker Alvaro Morata. The strange merry-go-round may yet benefit both clubs—Morata scored on Saturday—but Lukaku's swagger suggests he was born to wear United's shirt. Certainly, he did not appear cowed by the occasion and his partnership with Pogba could be a prolific one.
Behind Lukaku, a man recruited from Chelsea looks as though he could be just as important to whatever United achieves this season. Mourinho told the BBC following Sunday's game that he had been surprised at Nemanja Matic's availability for £40 million. Last week Conte described losing the Serbian midfielder as a "great loss" and Matic's Premier League debut for United will not have changed his opinion.
Matic was a key figure in Lukaku's first goal, winning the ball from Pedro Obiang midway through the United half and allowing Marcus Rashford to race forward to set up the Belgian. Matic dictated the pace of the game, playing the ball simply and quickly forwards. That enabled Paul Pogba freedom in a more advanced role to cause damage, as he did by sliding in United's fourth goal on 90 minutes.
Mourinho and United will have plenty more difficult tasks than this one through the season—West Ham was a supine opponent. But with Chelsea already stumbling, this was something of a statement of intent. Lukaku and Matic have added pace, power, skill and control to United. Mourinho's gain is his old club's great loss.
Uncommon Knowledge
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