Romelu Lukaku says close friend Paul Pogba drove him past Old Trafford many times to help persuade him to join Manchester United this summer
New £75m striker reveals the world record signing deliberately took a route near the ground when they went out for meals
ROMELU LUKAKU says close friend Paul Pogba drove him past Old Trafford on nights out to help persuade him to join Manchester United.
The £75million striker reveals how £89m world record buy Pogba revved up the pressure ahead of his summer switch from Everton.
Belgium star Lukaku, 24, told MUTV: "I spoke with Paul a lot, obviously.
"We spent our holiday together and he said: ‘What do you want to do?’
“I told him that I was thinking a lot about signing for United, something was telling me [to do it].
"I live near Manchester so, when I was coming to the city [centre], I would drive past Old Trafford and ask my mates what they thought.
“Me and Paul, we’d go to the city to have dinner and he’d drive past Old Trafford on purpose."
Lukaku also insists he knew within hours of arriving at Old Trafford he was right to reunite with United’s ex-Stamford Bridge Jose Mourinho rather than old club Chelsea.
He said: "The first thing I noticed when I came to the meeting room on my first day with the team, the manager had a meeting and you just felt something special,
"Loads of the players were saying that this group is quite special. We’re all young, hungry players.
“Players like Marcus [Rashford], Jesse [Lingard], Micki [Henrikh Mkhitaryan], Juan [Mata], Ander [Herrera] – players like that are hungry to win trophies and it’s time for us.
“We need to work hard - the manager has a masterplan and we're here to follow it. Hopefully it’s going to take us to the top.
"That’s what I came here for [trophies]. Manchester United, for me, equals trophies. The biggest club in the world equals trophies.
“Growing up, I’ve seen United win the league every year, almost. You want to be a part of that history.”
Lukaku added: “I’m grateful to be part of the biggest club in the world, but there's a lot of work to be done, and I know that I need to work much harder than I have until now.”
"You always have to work hard and believe that there’s something you can improve every year.
“Every year, at the end of the season, I will look to all of the games that I have played and I will look to the negatives, to the positives, and take it further into the next year.”
Lukaku, speaking to MUTV, added: "I think the key to me scoring more and more every year is that I work during the off-season on my negative points and it helps me a lot.
“I don’t think I will peak now, and also in my mind I think it’s not how you start the race but it’s how you finish.
“In your career, you always have obstacles, but you need to make sure you have the consistency to go with it.
“I’m playing for the biggest club in the world, so I need to play like one of the best players and make sure that my team-mates win."
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