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What's the story?
Manchester United's £75 million striker Romelu Lukaku is unhappy with teammates Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba according to English media outlet Mirror. The Belgian international is reportedly upset at Ibrahimovic for telling him to move out wide when the Swede comes on as a substitute.
In case you didn't know...
Manchester United purchased Lukaku from Premier League rival Everton in the last summer transfer window for a whopping fee of £75 million, making the 24-year-old the club's second most expensive signing after midfielder Paul Pogba.
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The former Chelsea striker has scored a total of 14 goals from 26 matches for the Red Devils this season. Lukaku is also fifth in the Premier League goalscoring table with 10 goals.
Ibrahimovic, on the other hand, joined the club from Paris Saint-Germain for free in 2016. The former Barcelona striker was sidelined for a long time due to a cruciate ligament injury and made his return last month.
Heart of the matter
Ibrahimovic made his first appearance of the season for Manchester United after returning to full fitness as a substitute against Newcastle United last month. When the 36-year-old came on, he told Lukaku to move to a wider position so that he can occupy the central area. This action of the former AC Milan player is said to have angered Lukaku.
Lukaku, who scored important goals for his team against Bournemouth and West Brom, refused to celebrate and Mirror claims that Ibrahimovic's attitude towards the player has played an important role in it.
The report also states that Lukaku is unhappy with Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho for not talking to Ibrahimovic about the incident. The striker is also upset with his agent Mino Raiola, who is the Swedish striker's agent aswell, and close friend Paul Pogba as he believes that the two are siding with the veteran striker.
Author's take
We cannot be sure of whether this report is true or not as there has been no official confirmation from a trustworthy source. However, if it happens to be true then it certainly is bad news for Mourinho and Manchester United.
Nobody wants to see any kind of tension between members of their own team, especially two frontmen and big personalities like Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
