Zlatan Ibrahimovic has told Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho he wants to return to the club once he has recovered from his cruciate knee ligament injury, claims The Guardian.
The former Sweden international was released by United at the end of last season after the 35-year-old suffered a career-threatening injury against Anderlecht in April.
Ibrahimovic is working to accelerate his rehabilitation time but isn’t expected to make a full recovery until the start of next year, when he will have already turned 36.
Mourinho has already spent £75m to sign Romelu Lukaku as Ibrahimovic’s replacement and the Belgium international has even taken his predecessor’s No.9 jersey for this season after asking for permission from the former Paris Saint-Germain striker.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic: Was flagged offside more times (37) than any other Premier League player last season pic.twitter.com/yuhAoBWb82
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) July 27, 2017
However, Mourinho is reportedly open to the idea of Ibrahimovic returning to the club in the January transfer window to provide his side with a further injection of quality for the remaining six months of the season.
Ibrahimovic finished last season as the club’s top goalscorer after scoring 28 times in all competitions, while no United player has scored more Premier League goals (17) in the last two campaigns despite the fact he was only at the club last term.
