Romelu Lukaku has opened up on a conversation he shared with Paul Pogba following the latter’s Manchester United exit in 2022, offering damning insight into the mood behind the scenes. The pair shared a close relationship at Old Trafford before Lukaku’s £74million departure to Inter Milan.
Pogba followed him three years later, leaving United on a free transfer upon the expiry of his contract to end a relationship with supporters that had turned sour.
The 31-year-old returned to Juventus, a club he had already joined as a free agent from United once at the dawn of his career.
And Lukaku has revealed that during the pair’s reunion when Inter faced Juventus in the Serie A, they marvelled in the absence of the negativity that plagued their time in Manchester.
“I saw him [Pogba] when he was at Juventus and I was at Inter,” Lukaku told the Friends of Sports podcast.
“He was shining and glowing and I said to him, ‘you’re feeling the exact same thing that I felt when I left’. The negativity isn’t there anymore, it’s gone…”
Pogba was subjected to heavy criticism across the six years after United made him the then-most expensive player in world football in 2016, splashing £89m.
The French World Cup winner scored 39 goals and registered 48 assists in 226 appearances during his second spell at Old Trafford.
He also lifted the Carabao Cup and Europa League under Jose Mourinho and was included in the 2018/19 PFA Premier League Team of the Year.
His time at United turned toxic near the end. Pogba has since revealed that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer sanctioned his departure at the end of the 2018/19 campaign.
However, Ed Woodward, chief executive at the time, blocked his transfer, which only further strained relations.
“The year Jose went and Ole [Gunnar Solskjaer] came, it was my best season at United, but after the last game, I told Ole and Ed Woodward that I thought it was my last year and that I wanted to leave,” Pogba told the Mail.
“I was 27 back then. It didn’t work out the way I wanted. I gave my best but I didn’t see the club going upwards. Manchester City and Liverpool were better than us, and they were improving.
“Ole said yes [to me leaving] and that he would talk to Ed. My head was already thinking that I wanted to go, but I came back for pre-season because I wanted to be professional.
“I spoke to Ed to try to make a move, but he blocked it. I didn’t want to play for United anymore, but I had to be professional. Mentally, I wasn’t there, and then I got the injuries.”
