Alexis Nunes, the ESPN reporter who was pushed into a swimming pool after playing rock-paper-scissors with Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku, has revealed the latter’s take on his disappointing career with Chelsea.

Nunes said Lukaku was fed up with his off-and-on contracts at Stamford Bridge, and would have opted for United, even if his close friend Pogba was a Chelsea player.

Image: Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku

After interviewing the young men, she came up with a proposal for the fun rock-paper-scissors game. The female reporter agreed it’d be nice for the loser to enjoy a cool swim in L.A.’s scorching afternoon weather.

Unfortunately, Nunes lost and was made to eat the humble pie.

Speaking about Lukaku’s pains with Chelsea, the reporter revealed that his respect for United would have been a deciding factor notwithstanding the desire to play alongside Pogba.

“That’s an interesting question. I do believe their friendship is absolutely genuine, they’re vacation buddies, they get along very well,” she said about the duo.

“They know each other very well, the way they speak about each other. As he was saying they knew when they met one day they would play together.

“They didn’t know how, they didn’t know where, they just knew that one day they would play together. 

“But the way that Lukaku spoke about Manchester United, the respect he has for the history, even though understanding now they aren’t the Manchester United we were used to under Sir Alex Ferguson.

Image shows Romelu Lukaku (Center) and his Manchester United teammates at UCLA.

“He still has so much respect for the club that I think he had his mind made up regardless of where Pogba was.”

Prior to Jose Mourinho’s US tour with the Red Devils earlier this week, both footballers were at UCLA for the former Everton player’s medicals just before United kicked off their pre-season training.

Contrary to rumors that Antonio Conte’s employers had offered to pay the same amount, Lukaku chose to play at Old Trafford for ‘personal’ reasons.

The 24-year-old Belgian signed a transfer deal valued at £75million, and has already begun training with the rest of United teammates ahead of the 2017-18 season.

Image: Alexis Nunes

Alexis Nunes is a Jamaican born reporter and host for ESPN and ESPNcricinfo.

She has anchored some big sports events such as the 2015 Cricket World Cup, IPL 2014 and the Major League Soccer (MLS) International Championships.