What Did It Actually Cost Man United To Acquire Romelu Lukaku?

Part of a broader corruption in football is tax evasion and Manchester United have mastered the act of exploiting poorly regulated transfer markets to evade taxes and they do that with air of impunity and sheer arrogance.

£75million was the sign on fee with another £15million add on to bring it to £90million if he manages to stay at Old Trafford for at least three years and sign a new deal. That was all that Man United are publicly willing to accept that they paid in a deal that actually threatens the £160million that Real Madrid are ready to pay for the teenage Mbappe.

Even the staunchest of the Red Devil's leaning media are beginning to admit that Rooney was an unofficial part of the deal that brought Lukaku to Old Trafford. Man United had earlier concluded that they would offload Rooney this summer to a smaller club for at least £10million. Sending him to Everton for free amidst Lukaku's  contract negotiation is a shrewd attempt to knock £10million off from £100million Everton were asking at that time.

Talking about Wayne Rooney who had earned £300,000/week sitting on Man United's bench for two years, he was encouraged to accept whatever peanut Everton were offering by paying him off with about £15.7million.

Another wrinkle to the deal is agent Mino Raiola who also represents Pogba, Romero,  Ibrahimovic and Mkhitaryan. Raiola wasn't much a unknown figure in football until he brought Pogba to Old Trafford in a world record fee that would reach €115million next season. The actual amount agent Raiola received in Lukaku's deal is still sketchy but Metro pegged it at £12million whereas Telegraph and Daily Mail had reported a whooping £41million agent fee in deals that brought Pogba, Ibrahimovic and Mkhitaryan to Old Trafford last year and they expect Lukaku's agent fee to be hovering around that figure.

Goal factored Lukaku's weekly wages of £200,000/week into the deal and brought it to a round figure of £150million. No matter who one chooses to believe, one thing we can all agree with is that Man United had spent more than they are willing to accept in Lukaku's deal.