Manchester: Romelu Lukaku was instructed to delete a controversial social media post revealing confidential details of Manchester United’s training statistics as the striker’s strained relations with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took another turn for the worse.
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Lukaku took to Twitter on Friday to issue a firm riposte to those who claim he lacks pace by revealing the results of a running test during the Perth leg of United’s pre-season tour last month.
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It showed Lukaku was second only to Diogo Dalot (36.43km/hour) with a maximum speed of 36.25km/hour and charted the speeds of 22 other United team-mates. The tweet was accompanied with the words “lack of pace” next to laughing and runner emojis.
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But Lukaku’s decision to divulge such information publicly was dimly received by Solskjaer and the Belgium striker was ordered to remove the post immediately.
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It comes as Lukaku pins his hopes on a move to Juventus or Inter Milan this summer. United are in talks with Juventus about a potential swap deal involving Paulo Dybala, although the Argentina striker is reluctant to leave the Italian club against his will and has reservations about a move to Old Trafford.
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Antonio Conte, the Inter coach, is eager to sign Lukaku but the Milan club – who had a pounds 54 million bid -rejected last month – need to offload Mauro Icardi to be able to fund a deal.
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Harry Maguire was undergoing a medical at United’s Carrington training ground as the England centre-half’s pounds 85 million move from Leicester nears completion and Solskjaer remains hopeful of bringing in another player or two before the close of the Premier League transfer window on Thursday.
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Lukaku has played no part in any of United’s pre-season games this summer and was not in the squad who faced AC Milan in Cardiff on Friday.
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His absence is officially being put down to an ankle injury but the player does not figure in Solskjaer’s plans and both parties hope a transfer can be -arranged.
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Lukaku’s tweet also went down badly with some of his United teammates.
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It had the unintended consequence of embarrassing Luke Shaw, who finished last behind Juan Mata and Nemanja Matic – neither of whom is known for his pace – with a speed of 31.03km/hour.
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Mata saw the funny side and replied to Lukaku by tweeting: “Thanks for finally showing the world that I’m quicker than @LukeShaw23 bro.”
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Shaw – one of the fastest players in United’s squad – was not thought to be running flat out as part of the test and the England left-back did little to hide his frustration with his reply, “They only wanted me to go 70% don’t let me start speaking on you boy”, followed by a pair of eyes and sad face emoji.
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Uncertainty also continues to surround the future of Paul Pogba, who admitted publicly in June that he wanted to seek a new challenge at -another club amid a firm desire to join Real Madrid.
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The France midfielder did not travel with the rest of United’s squad to Cardiff and there have been conflicting stories over the reasons behind his omission.
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– The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2019
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