Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has warned re-signed striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic that is is not assured an automatic first choice.
Ibrahimovic who signed a new deal until the summer on significantly reduced wages, with greater emphasis placed on appearance bonuses, will be included in the club’s 25-man Champions League squad next week but told he is not guaranteed a starting berth for the Red Devils. Ibrahimovic, who hit 28 goals last year, will have to be content with playing second fiddle behind both Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford when he returns after Christmas.
Mourinho said ‘Zlatan knows me. And he knows that I play the players that I think are the best for the team. 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. I always try to be honest with my players. Maybe sometimes I don’t do the correct things. But I always try’.
‘Zlatan is going to arrive into a made team, 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. We are going to be a better squad. He is one more option, one more player that can play (as a) No 9 or 10. Probably, in January, I would have been knocking on Ed Woodward’s door asking for a striker and (now) I don’t need to. I have one of the best in the world.’
Mourinho, who admitted United’s transfer business is finished after missing out on Inter Milan’s Ivan Perisic, suggested the club were almost duty bound to offer Ibrahimovic fresh terms.‘A club like United, in my opinion, has to show how big it is in the details,’ he added. ‘This is a big detail. A player who gets injured in a United shirt, fighting for United, the club has to be there for him.’
Ibrahimovic who signed a new deal until the summer on significantly reduced wages, with greater emphasis placed on appearance bonuses, will be included in the club’s 25-man Champions League squad next week but told he is not guaranteed a starting berth for the Red Devils. Ibrahimovic, who hit 28 goals last year, will have to be content with playing second fiddle behind both Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford when he returns after Christmas.Mourinho said ‘Zlatan knows me. And he knows that I play the players that I think are the best for the team. 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. I always try to be honest with my players. Maybe sometimes I don’t do the correct things. But I always try’.‘Zlatan is going to arrive into a made team, 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. We are going to be a better squad. He is one more option, one more player that can play (as a) No 9 or 10. Probably, in January, I would have been knocking on Ed Woodward’s door asking for a striker and (now) I don’t need to. I have one of the best in the world.’Mourinho, who admitted United’s transfer business is finished after missing out on Inter Milan’s Ivan Perisic, suggested the club were almost duty bound to offer Ibrahimovic fresh terms.‘A club like United, in my opinion, has to show how big it is in the details,’ he added. ‘This is a big detail. A player who gets injured in a United shirt, fighting for United, the club has to be there for him.’
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