Romelu Lukaku split with Mino Raiola over Chelsea ‘misunderstanding’ when he joined Manchester United
The Belgian striker announced that he sacked off the powerful Italian in favour of fellow countryman Federico Pastorello
ROMELU LUKAKU ditched super agent Mino Raiola over a "misunderstanding" that saw him join Manchester United over former club Chelsea.
The Belgian striker announced that he sacked off the powerful Italian in favour of fellow countryman Federico Pastorello.
Lukaku, 25, - who looks set to play against Valencia tonight - decided to leave Raiola in April and has now joined P&P Sports management - Pastorello's agency.
He represents Antonio Conte, Patrice Evra and Kevin Prince Boateng, as well as a long list of Italian players.
But the real reason of his split with Raiola was unknown - until now.
According to Duncan Castles, who was speaking to the Transfer Window podcast, Lukaku finally reached the end of his tether over how Raiola handled his business.
He claimed that the main reason for the breakdown in the relationship was because Lukaku was given the false belief that Raiola was holding talks with Chelsea's deal-maker Marina Granovskaia before he left Everton for United in July 2017.
Granovskaia helps facilitate Chelsea's biggest moves in the transfer market.
But he was left furious when he found out that wasn't the case and the agent in fact only held brief discussions with former manager Antonio Conte.
No bid was facilitated and Lukaku end up joining United, although it remains unclear whether his preferred destination was Stamford Bridge.
Lukaku has had a tough season on the field following his World Cup exploits.
He admitted that he was forced to trim his weight and ex-United player Gary Neville revealed he was confused as to how he could let it happen.
Neville said: "I struggle with the weight thing and maybe that's just because of how I was as a footballer,
"You could never take a chance with preparation. You could play badly, you could give goals away, you could make mistakes, you could miss chances, whatever type of player you are, these things happen in games. But actually, don't take a chance with preparation.
"Do I turn up every morning? Do I eat the right things? Do I go into the gym at the right times? Do I follow the programme?
"You can argue whether he has got the right programme and then you start to question your coaching staff and things like that, but I really do question that.
"In the modern age when you have 55 staff supporting every team, nutritionists, strength and conditioning coaches, I struggle to understand how a player can be allowed to feel like he has too much muscle or is overweight. Particularly when he's fit."