Manchester United spent plenty of money in Jose Mourinho’s second transfer window at the club in the summer of 2017/18. The summer before, they made the two marquee signings of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba and followed those deals up the following summer by spending £138m on three players.
The cheapest of that trio was Victor Lindelof, who joined the club from Benfica for a fee of around £31m. Mourinho then brought one of his former Chelsea players, Nemanja Matic, to the club, who cost the Red Devils £40m. The marquee signing that summer was Romelu Lukaku, who set United back a staggering £75m.
Lukaku’s Man United career
Looking back, it is certainly hard to decide whether the Belgian’s time at Old Trafford was a success or not. On the face of things, his goal record was certainly respectable. The former Chelsea striker played 96 games for the club, scored 42 times and registered 12 assists.
In each of the two Premier League seasons that he represented the Red Devils, the all-time Belgian top scorer found the back of the net on 28 occasions. That equated to 16 goals in 34 games in his debut season, 2017/18, and 12 goals in 32 appearances in his second campaign.
Frustratingly, Lukaku, who now plies his trade at Napoli alongside former United teammate Scott McTominay, did not manage to get his hands on any silverware during his time at Old Trafford. However, he did finish runner-up in the 2017 UEFA Super Cup, a game in which he scored, and the 2017/18 FA Cup Final against former club Chelsea.
There is certainly a good debate to be had as to whether Lukaku’s time at Old Trafford was a success or not.
However, there was a point when they nearly did not even go on to sign the striker, instead turning their attention to one of the best youngsters in the world at that time, Kylian Mbappe.
When Man United missed out on Kylian Mbappe
Yes, believe it or not, the Red Devils actually had made a bid for a then 18-year-old Kylian Mbappe, after he had his breakout season at Monaco. Mourinho’s side placed an offer of around £72m according to the Guardian, but that was rejected, with the Ligue 1 side wanting £100m, which would have been a world record sum.
Mbappe’s second, and final, season in the South of France was simply exceptional and he began to show signs of being the player who many regard as the best in the world today. In total, he played 44 games in all competitions, scoring 26 goals and grabbing 14 assists as Monaco beat Paris Saint-Germain won Ligue 1.
Mbappe stats for Monaco in 2016/17 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Competition | Games | Goals | Assists |
Ligue 1 | 29 | 15 | 11 |
Champions League | 9 | 6 | 0 |
Coupe de France | 3 | 2 | 3 |
Coupe de la Ligue | 3 | 3 | 0 |
Stats from Transfermarkt | |||
Since then, Mbappe has gone on to do legendary things. He won the World Cup with France in 2018 and became PSG’s all-time top goalscorer after the French giants signed him from Monaco ahead of the Red Devils that same summer.
He left Le Parisians in the summer of 2024, making his long-awaited move to Real Madrid on a free transfer.
He exited the club with 256 goals and 108 assists in just 308 appearances and has already scored five goals in seven games for Los Blancos. Football statistician Statman Dave described him as “unstoppable” for a reason.
United may rue their decision to not sign Mbappe all those years ago. Whilst they would have needed to pay an extraordinary £100m to sign him, he soon rose in value.
At his highest, the Frenchman was worth £168m between December 2018 and December 2019. He is now worth an eye-watering £152m at Los Blancos, as per Transfermarkt, and it seems like that will only rise if he continues this form.
When United fans watch Mbappe score weekly at the Santiago Bernabeu this season, they may wonder what might have been if they had paid the money required to sign him back in 2017.
