Manchester United and Chelsea find the misery of a miss can lead to a sensational hit with Romelu Lukaku and Alvaro Morata, says Ian Wright
If both had landed their No1 target, Alvaro Morata and Romelu Lukaku may not have been firing in the goals
IT’S funny how the misery of a miss can lead to such a sensational hit — but that’s been the case for both Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte.
If Jose had got his first-choice striking target in the summer, Alvaro Morata would be leading the Manchester United attack.
If Conte had landed his, then Romelu Lukaku would be back at Stamford Bridge and filling Diego Costa’s boots.
I doubt either manager will ever be so delighted at having to switch their sights, given how both forwards have hit the ground running.
And the reasons for that — as well as being top players, obviously — are clear to me.
Both know they are loved, know they are the main man, and know they are in the right place at last.
Morata came from Real Madrid having never really had a chance to establish himself at the Bernabeu.
To be fair, with the likes of Ronaldo, Benzema and Bale, it was always going to be a pretty thankless task.
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Yet even with those three and others ahead of him, he was clearly frustrated at being a back-up, so the move to England was a godsend.
Lukaku also made no secret of his frustration, even though he was the star at Everton.
He didn’t feel the club’s ambitions matched his own. Lukaku was desperate for Champions League football and despite everyone thinking it would be Chelsea who provided it, United and Jose are the ideal fit.
It’s ironic to think now that, when both signed for such huge fees, they arrived with a hefty dose of scepticism. There were plenty who were not convinced they could cut it at the top level.
Yes, they’d done so at times, but could they do it on a regular basis? Well I think we’ve been given a fairly resounding answer already.
Many felt Chelsea would struggle without Costa and that Morata lacked that bit of dog about him to turn a game.
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It’s true that even when Costa wasn’t playing well he’d still be likely to pull something out by giving defenders such an unpleasant time.
But while Chelsea lost that, Morata gives them something else — the ability to create a goal from nothing, as he did with the second of his hat-trick at Stoke.
His movement is superb, his pace frightening, and on Saturday he was as close to unplayable as you’ll get and could have scored at least five.
Yet if I had to take just one of the pair it would be Lukaku — simply because he has such a massive improvement still to come.
One thing for sure is the Prem has four of the best goalscorers in the world right now. As well as these two, we’ve Sergio Aguero banging them in for fun at Manchester City and Harry Kane as deadly as ever at Spurs.
That race for the Golden Boot will be as exciting as the one for the title itself.
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