Bengaluru, January 18: The real reason behind Romelu Lukaku missing two games during the busy festive period last year with an immediate compassionate leave has been revealed and according to reports, the Belgian forward missed the Christmas period as he was attending the birth of his first child.
After enduring a humiliating 3-1 defeat at the hands of Liverpool, reports emerged that the 26-year-old suddenly left the camp on leave. He missed two of United's games, one against Cardiff City and the other against Huddersfield Town during the festive period after Mourinho was sacked and interim boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took charge.
And now, as per latest revelations, the striker flew to the US to be with his girlfriend as she gave birth to a boy - Romeo.
Romelu Lukaku's girlfriend gave birth to a boy before Christmas #mulive [mail]
— utdreport (@utdreport) 16 January 2019
Since his return to the side the Belgian all-time top scorer has been on a high and becoming a father certainly has helped himself uplift his mood.
The Belgium international had scored only two goals in the league since the end of September, but now has netted three in three since coming back into the side.
Lukaku has recently embraced the appointment of Solskjaer and claimed that working with the legendary forward has been the key in turning around his fortunes in front of goal.
Meanwhile, another Manchester United legend Andy Cole has advised Lukaku to get back his 'mojo' again as he believed he lost his confidence under Mourinho which affected his natural game.
Cole said: "Romelu has got to find his mojo again. He has come off the bench and scored two in two, but that mojo comes from confidence.
"I watched him this season under Jose [Mourinho] and I could tell, as a former centre-forward myself, that he was low on confidence.
"The first thing which starts to go is your movement. Romelu wasn't moving.
"You stop making the runs because you stop believing in yourself.
"I've been in that position and I'd watch him making hand gestures about where he wanted the ball to go, but psychologically you don't really want the ball.
"It's all about confidence and when his returns he'll start scoring."