Lukaku Hails Solskjaer

Nigel Philips

Manchester United striker, Romelu Lukaku, has hailed the impact of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on his performance and said the manager ‘keeps him hungry.’

Lukaku is reported to have spoken out on Thursday about how he liked the Manchester United caretaker manager, who, he disclosed, was not just open but dealt with him honestly. 

The bulky Belgian forward scored twice as the Red Devils beat Crystal Palace 3-1 at the Selhurst Park on Wednesday to end his six-game goalless run in the ongoing English Premier League campaign.

Solskjaer, who inherited a down-spirited Manchester United, has turned the side into a winning machine and won a lot of admirers who see him as the best candidate for the club’s permanent managerial role.

“I like him. He's really open, really honest in his communication, and keeps me hungry, so whenever I get a chance to play I just want what's best for the team and to help the team win," Lukaku is quoted to have said on Daily Mail.

"It is really helpful that he is a former player. If you look at my career, I've always had good strikers helping me, so now I'm here with Ole and I'm learning a lot, and every day is another day to learn, another day to improve and that's how I see it."

Lukaku's  brace on Wednesday has increased his Premier League goal tally to 10 having netted for the first time since the start of January.

The striker has lost the starting berth he used to enjoy under former manager Jose Mourinho but took his chance in the midweek clash when he was offered a role in the starting-XI due to the absence of Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard.

"I just wanted to score. I'm a striker so I want to score goals," he added.

"So I did what I had to do, but in the other goal I was involved in the build-up, and I created a couple of chances against Liverpool, so I knew it was coming. So I'm happy that today I helped the team.”

"I'm happy with my goals, happy with my performance, but I'm happy with the win. It was really important for us to win today if you look at the other teams' results.

"We did what we had to do and now we have to keep going.

"It was time for other players to step up, which we did, and we won the game and now we have to move forward to the next game, hopefully keep the same level, win games along the way, and when the injured players come back, that they help us to get where we want to get."