Manchester United striker Romelu Lukaku just the start of Jose Mourinho's war on Chelsea

Manchester United have prioritised signing Romelu Lukaku over Alvaro Morata after the striker indicated his willingness to reject Chelsea.

It was that understands Lukaku is United's principal target and the club has no intention of signing the Belgium international and Real Madrid centre forward Morata.

United have worked on a Morata deal for weeks and sources close to the player expected him to complete a move to Old Trafford, however Lukaku's eagerness to join United has convinced the club to delay concluding a deal for Morata and they have switched their attention to the Everton goalscorer.

Lukaku, 24, was United's preferred target to replace Zlatan Ibrahimovic as their figurehead but the club expected him to rejoin Chelsea, whose only addition to their title-winning squad so far is Willy Caballero.

Everton are believed to be demanding £100million for Lukaku, but that figure could be relaxed if Wayne Rooney is used as a makeweight in a swap deal.

The M.E.N. wrote in April United were considering an exchange deal with Everton but Rooney seemed set on moving to the Chinese Super League.

However, it is understood that a change in events last week caused Rooney to go cold on moving to Asia and he is now likely to rejoin his boyhood club that he left nearly 13 years ago.

Lukaku, who is holidaying with Paul Pogba in the United States, is also represented by Mino Raiola and the agent convinced Pogba to move to United over Real Madrid a year ago.

The M.E.N. reported last year Pogba preferred a move to Madrid but Raiola advised him to return to United. Zinedine Zidane lobbied Real president Florentino Perez to sign Pogba but the Champions League winners were reluctant to match United’s fee, which Perez confirmed in an interview last month.

The potential addition of Lukaku would mark a major coup for United and would weaken two of their rivals. Chelsea coach Antonio Conte has already alienated first-choice striker Diego Costa and failing to sign Lukaku would plunge the Premier League champions' transfer window into a state of disarray. United would also be weakening Everton, the league's biggest spenders so far this summer, by signing their top scorer in the last four seasons.

Lukaku's father said his son 'has to join Bayern or Manchester United' last year and a week later Lukaku admitted he would be open to reuniting with Mourinho.

When asked about the possibility of a return to Chelsea or working with Mourinho again, Lukaku replied: "No, absolutely not. The page is turned on both sides.

"When I was little, (Bayern and United) were two teams that impressed me by their offensive force.

"We'll see what will happen. Anyway, it is always nice to be linked with such clubs, this is proof that they watch me. The rest is the business of my manager."

Lukaku's only goals against United were the three he scored for West Brom in that surreal 5-5 draw during Sir Alex Ferguson's last game in charge four years ago.

M.E.N. Sport