Manchester: Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho said Saturday that he expects Zlatan Ibrahimovic to challenge Romelu Lukaku for a starting berth when the Swedish striker returns to action.
Ibrahimovic, 35, signed a one-year contract with United this week, having been sidelined since sustaining a serious knee ligament injury four months ago.
Lukaku has made an impressive start to his Old Trafford career, but Mourinho said that when Ibrahimovic returns to fitness, he will be given a chance to take the Belgian’s place.
“Zlatan knows me,” Mourinho told reporters. “And he knows that I play the players that I think are the best for the team. I always did it. So if he comes here and he proves that he is the best, he plays. If the other ones don’t give him a chance to prove that, that’s life.
“But I try always to be honest with my players and with my team. I try. Maybe sometimes I do not do the correct things. But I always try to do,” added the man who calls himself ‘the Special One’.
Lukaku, 24, has made a strong impression following his £75 million ($96.6 million, 81.3 million euros) move from Everton, scoring four goals in his first three Man U appearances.
While Mourinho envisages Ibrahimovic playing a key role over the second part of the season, he is similarly insistent that the experienced forward will have to force his way into what could be a ‘settled’ team.
“Zlatan is going to arrive into a made team. He is going to arrive to a team that, I don’t say is the end product, but he is going to arrive mid-season with the team playing in a certain way and with players having what I call the functional links in the dynamic of the team. So he will be facing challenges which he has to overcome,” Mourinho pointed out.
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