Jose Mourinho confirmed on Friday that Manchester United are holding talks with Zlatan Ibrahimovic over a return to Old Trafford in the second half of the season.

The Swede finished as the Red Devils top scorer in his one and only campaign at the club, scoring 28 goals during his debut season in English football.

It had been expected the former Paris Saint-Germain striker would remain at the club for the entirety of the upcoming season, but a serious injury against Anderlecht in April scuppered such hopes.

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United released Ibrahimovic at the end of the campaign, seemingly making his spell at United short and sweet. And soon after followed the £90 million arrival of Romelu Lukaku from Everton.

It had appeared the Belgian would take the weight of expectation from Ibrahimovic up front, after an impressive three seasons at Goodison Park.

Last season, the Red Devils produced just 54 Premier League goals - 17 of them coming from Ibrahimovic - and proved to be a major issue that Mourinho struggled to contend with.

But while the Portuguese has recruited Lukaku to take Ibrahimovic's place up front, the 54-year-old has one major expectation this campaign that will ensure their shyness in front of goal will be void this season.

Mourinho demanding more in Ibrahimovic absence

"In my other clubs what I had was more players scoring goals," Mourinho said per Sky Sports.

"Midfield players scoring goals, wingers scoring goals, central defenders good in the air scoring goals at set-pieces.

"We always had that so my teams always had the goalscorer, we always had the guy that scores more goals, but then we had the winger that scored 15 goals, we had the midfield player who scored 10 goals, we had the central defender that scored five goals.

"And last season that didn't happen much - we were focused on the goals that our striker was scoring and when he was not scoring, the team was a little bit in trouble to win matches."

Given more opportunities, Mourinho will expect more goals from both Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial this campaign, who scored 11 and eight goals respectively last campaign.

And more will also be expected of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Juan Mata and Paul Pogba in the scoring department also.

Portuguese feeling more knowledgeable this campaign

But Mourinho believes it will also be his improved knowledge of the club that will help him to make it the sixth occasion in which he has lifted the league title in his second season in charge of a major European club.

"I just think naturally a manager in the second season knows the players better," Mourinho explained. "Knows the club better. I don't say the league because I have been in this league a long time.

"I have conditions to deliver a better team than I did in the first season. If that is going to mean better results and the title, I don't know."