Jose Mourinho has said he travelled to watch Belgium during the recent international break in order to check on Romelu Lukaku’s injury, with the Manchester United striker struggling for form and fitness.
Lukaku has scored more for his country than his club thus far this season, having now gone 10 games without a United goal, and was dropped to the substitute’s bench by Mourinho last month.
The 25-year-old nevertheless met up with Roberto Martinez’s Belgium at the start of the international break, only to then miss Nations League matches against Iceland and Switzerland with a hamstring injury.
Mourinho was spotted in the crowd against Iceland, despite neither Lukaku or club team-mate Marouane Fellaini playing, which led to some suggesting that the United manager was in Belgium on a scouting mission.
On Friday, however, the United manager insisted he made the trip from his London home to Brussels in order to support Lukaku and assess the severity of his hamstring injury.
“I went fundamentally to be with Lukaku, to feel him, to see his situation, his injury,” Mourinho said on Friday, while previewing United’s Premier League meeting with Crystal Palace on Saturday.
“Roberto invited me to meet him which I decided not to because I don’t like to disturb people before matches, but I was with Roberto on the phone trying to feel, trying to understand the problem and evolution of the problem.
“And of course, I like to watch football,” the United manager added. “I was in London. A couple of hours train, easy to go.”
When asked to explain his presence in Brussels by Belgian journalists last week, Mourinho had joked he was there “for the weather” and despite his Lukaku claim, speculation persists that he travelled to watch Belgium’s Toby Alderweireld and Axel Witsel.
During the October international break, Mourinho unexpectedly attended Serbia’s victory in Montenegro following links with Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, the Lazio midfielder, and Nikola Milenkovic, the Fiorentina right-back.
On Lukaku’s availability against Palace, Mourinho added: “Lukaku is ready, I would say ready with a little bit of a risk but ready.”
The United manager also confirmed that United’s other injury doubts – Fellaini, Paul Pogba, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford – are all in contention to play on Saturday.
