Romelu Lukaku explains why he chose Manchester United over Chelsea and why he was furious at Everton

Romelu Lukaku believes it was his destiny to be reunited with Jose Mourinho this summer and simply could not refuse the opportunity to work under the Manchester United manager.

The Belgium international was at the centre of a tug of war between United and Premier League champions Chelsea during the close season. At one stage it appeared that Lukaku was destined to make a return to Stamford Bridge, with Alvaro Morata hotly tipped to leave Real Madrid for the Red Devils.

Ultimately, Lukaku moved to Old Trafford in a club-record £75million deal and has made a hugely encouraging start to his United career, scoring 14 goals in all competitions and he is confident Mourinho can help take his game to another level.

‘I made a decision in the summer that I felt Old Trafford was the stage for me,’ he told Sky Sports.

Romelu Lukaku cited Jose Mourinho as the major reason for him joining Man Utd (Picture: Getty)

Romelu Lukaku on why he was fuming at Everton

When I used to be at Everton – and no disrespect to Everton, the team that nurtured me – we were always playing not to lose against the big teams. As a striker, I would play sometimes with two defensive midfielders as wingers. There would be no service, everybody would be thinking about closing back and not conceding first. I would stay on the holding midfielder and we would defend with nine. Here it is different, you play to win and you get more service. The pressure is bigger but it is something I wanted. Now we go to Chelsea and we go for a win. That’s a good feeling. Sometimes we would go to Chelsea and be happy with a draw and I would be fuming because I wanted to win.

‘Playing under Jose Mourinho was my destiny. Since I was 11, I knew when he was manager at Porto, I knew this guy had something. I followed his career, the way his teams played, and as a young kid I was already being busy with tactics.

‘I was like this is the guy that might give me something. So it was Manchester United, it was Jose Mourinho. I could not say no.

‘I felt it was the best opportunity for me. For us as a team it will be an important game because we want to keep going, to keep winning, to play without fear, to go forward and score goals.

‘That’s what the fans want to see and that’s the type of team we can be. We have a lot of pace, skill and power in our team and then when we need to fight we can fight. We will go there and try to perform. On my record against the big teams, I think now it is different.’