Romelu Lukaku's transfer leaves Manchester United with easy decisions to make

"His body is in Manchester but his mind is on Milan," one of Romelu Lukaku's confidants messaged three years ago. Lukaku had uploaded a photo onto his Instagram account of him sporting a black and blue training top amid Inter Milan's interest. His agent, Federico Pastorello, was striving to conclude a transfer before Manchester United flew to a timezone seven hours ahead of the UK.

Lukaku did not get his way and was named in the United pre-season tour squad to Australia and Asia. United touched down in Perth on July 8 and returned to Manchester on July 26. From Australia to China, via Singapore, Lukaku did not play a single minute across four games.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer repeatedly claimed Lukaku was injured. Lukaku was mentioned at almost every press conference and the answers became so unconvincing they were barely worth reporting on.

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United knew Lukaku wanted out and they were prepared to let him go, provided Inter submitted an acceptable offer. United were reluctant to make a loss on a striker they paid £75million to sign two years earlier but their posturing was to no avail.

Lukaku abandoned public diplomacy back in Europe. He uploaded sensitive training data onto Twitter that ridiculed Luke Shaw's "maximum speed" and days later went AWOL, surfacing at former club Anderlecht. That was United's breaking point and they made a minor loss, selling Lukaku for just over £73m.

Chelsea have returned Lukaku to Milan, avoiding the commotion of coaxing him onto the Drake Stadium pitch at the UCLA for pre-season next month. United staff who shadowed Lukaku across two continents would do well to highlight the ordeal to Erik ten Hag as he prepares to