On Thursday it was confirmed that free agent Zlatan Ibrahimovic had signed a new one year deal with Manchester United.

The 35-year-old striker suffered a serious knee injury in April during the Europa League quarter-final victory over Anderlecht.

Despite that, he still managed 28 goals in his debut season in England after joining the Reds on a free transfer from PSG.

Jose Mourinho signed his replacement earlier in the summer, splashing out £75m on Everton striker Romelu Lukaku.

The 24-year-old Belgian has started the season in unstoppable form, netting on three occasions in the opening two Premier League games.

It's expected that Ibrahimovic will provide competition for Lukaku when he returns to full fitness.

False return date reports rubbished by Mourinho

Reports circulating in the media this week were suggesting that the veteran Swedish striker had targeted the match against Spurs on October 28th as his return date.

Cruciate ligament injuries usually keep players out of action for approximately nine months so suggestions that he would be back in six seemed a little nonsensical, especially for a man at his age.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday's clash with Leicester, Jose Mourinho revealed when he thinks Ibrahimovic will make his return.

“He will not be ready for the group phase of the Champions League," admitted Mourinho. "I don't think there is any chance of that.

“I’m not thinking Zlatan to play any part of the group phase, hopefully he can play in the knockout phase but for that we need to finish top two.

“He will be an extra man for us in the second part of the season. When I say second part, we say January after Christmas, when the transfer window reopens but I have no idea at all."

That means we probably won't see the great Swede in a Manchester United shirt until 2018.

He still has unfinished business at Old Trafford, having won domestic titles in Holland, Italy, Spain and France.

Ibrahimovic's £350,000-a-week contract expired on July 1st and The Times revealed that he's now earning only £125,000 a week.

His huge pay cut is almost certainly because he'll be spending a large portion of the season completely useless.