The Belgian, 25, has done the least running of all his Manchester United team-mates and major forward rivals this season, Sun Sport can exclusively reveal.
Lukaku, who hasn't scored for five games, has already come under fire for his lack of movement this season and pal Paul Pogba had a pop at him during the 0-0 draw with Valencia.
It has led to concerns that the striker is burned out and needs a rest, with pals claiming that playing 60 games in 2018 is catching up with him.
But SunSport has consulted Opta for the stats on Lukaku's running this season and the stats show his distance covered is significantly less than others.
Jose Mourinho's traditional tactics have often worked with a textbook No9, who is encouraged to stay in the opponent's half and within the width of the box and get physical.
The likes of Didier Drogba, Diego Costa, Diego Milito, Samuel Eto'o and Benni McCarthy all worked to that pattern.
It is a very different ethos to how Pep Guardiola or Jurgen Klopp have their forwards work, with far more pressing and positional inter-changing going on.
But if Lukaku is wondering why his goalscoring return is that much lower than last season, one of the reasons could be his lack of running.
The numbers show the Belgian has an average running distance of 9.06km — or 5.62miles — per 90 minutes.
Compare that to Paul Pogba at 10.5km, Luke Shaw at 10.11km and Marouane Fellaini at 11.63km.
Of all the United players who have played 400 or more minutes for United this season, Lukaku has the lowest total per minute.
Meanwhile, the numbers compared to his rivals also reveal something interesting, and hardly surprising: Roberto Firmino runs an average of over 2km MORE than Lukaku per game.
Of his rival forwards, Harry Kane runs an average of 10.15km per Premier League game, Firmino 11.14km and Eden Hazard 10.35km.
It is a damning sign of United's lack of movement off the ball, and could possibly explain why they are struggling to break teams down.
Lukaku played a total of 563 minutes this season, compared to Kane (628min), Firmino (592min) and Hazard (487min).
Clearly Maurizio Sarri has recognised that the Belgian star, who has been the Premier League's best player this season, needs to be used sparingly.
Indeed last season, Hazard racked up the most appearances of the four forwards with 66 appearances for club and country, including the World Cup.
Lukaku and Firmino played 64 games last term and Harry Kane 61.
Needless to say, all four players could use a rest at some point — Firmino most of all, given his workload last season and Kane given his game-time this term.
If Mourinho is going to give his big forward a rest, he will have to do it soon and hope United's results pick up at some point.
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