5 players who need to fire consistently for Manchester United to win the league

#3 Romelu Lukaku

Romelu Lukaku needs to score key goals against United's biggest rivals

When United paid somewhere around the £80m mark to sign Romelu Lukaku from Everton in the summer, it was a move that basically split opinion across the football world. Some felt that it was a tremendous move – Lukaku had one of the best goal-scoring records in the Premier League in recent years, scoring over 20 goals in all competitions in his last three seasons – while others felt that he was too crude of a striker for a side like United and would miss as many chances as he’d put away.

Thus far, you’d have to call the big Belgian a hit. He’s delivered goals in spades – eight in the Premier League, 12 in all competitions – and has generally performed well for the most part. It is true however that Lukaku has come under criticism for going missing in big games – in United’s matches with other sides in the “big six” thus far (vs. Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal) he hasn’t scored a goal, and Harry Kane, Alvaro Morata, Mohamed Salah and Sergio Aguero – all of whom play for United’s big rivals – have scored more than him thus far.

If United want to win the league, then Lukaku simply must deliver when it matters, and not just in games that the Red Devils are already looking likely to win. He scored plenty of goals for Everton but the criticism there was always that he was more of a flat-track bully who didn’t score key goals, and if the same happens to him at United, then they’re likely to miss out. Start scoring regularly against everyone though, and the Belgian powerhouse could deliver the Premier League title. It’s a case of watch this space.