Unless the Arsenal board and Arsene Wenger were to have a drastic change in the way they spend money on transfer fees and wages, you would generally assume that we would lose out in a toe-to-toe transfer battle with a big spending club like Manchester United.
So when the football media started reporting that the Everton and Belgium international striker Romelu Lukaku was ready to move on from his current club in the summer, Arsenal hopes were soon dashed when The Sun reported the player’s own father suggesting that Old Trafford was one of the ideal destinations for his son.
However, it appears that a big pay packet is not the most important thing for this powerful striker, as the Daily Star has reported Lukaku himself declaring that he wants to be playing the Champions League next season. So unless Louis van Gaal can get his inconsistent and overpaid bunch of misfits to improve from now until the end of the season it looks unlikely that the big Belgian will be pulling on a United shirt next season.
Lukaku said, “It’s good to be mentioned because it means they are keeping an eye on me. But I have an agent who is dealing with this for me at the moment.
“Let’s see what the future brings. I need to be playing in the Champions League. That’s the next step for me. It will be nice to play in the Champions League for next season.”
We cannot be sure but I strongly suspect that the striker would not be keen to fight for a place at Man City with Aguero or with Kane at Tottenham either so can you think of a Premier League club heading for a Champions League place that needs a new first choice centre forward?