UNITED V EVERTON Jose says ‘no deal’ for Zlatan’s return
JOSE Mourinho has confirmed United will not re-sign Zlatan Ibrahimovic for a second time.
Ibrahimovic, 37, moved to the LA Galaxy in March and has plundered 22 goals in 26 appearances for the MLS side to spark speculation of a return to Old Trafford.
United re-signed Ibrahimovic in August last year after his contract ran out but the Swede managed just eight more games as he struggled to recover from an anterior cruciate ligament injury he suffered in April last year.
When asked if there was any possibility of an Ibrahimovic return, Mourinho replied: “No. No.”
United entertain Everton tomorrow in the Premier League and Mourinho will come up against his compatriot and ‘good friend’ Marco Silva. Silva claimed a League Cup victory against Mourinho in January last year with Hull before he moved on to Watford, where he was sacked amid intense interest from Everton.
“Good friends,” Mourinho added. “You know Marco now, I understand the questions when he was coming from Olympiakos, I think. But now I don’t understand the questions. He’s at his third club in the country, third season in the Premier League, you all know Marco.
“The only thing I want to say is that I have a very good relation with him, yes we are good friends. In football is difficult to feed that relation between managers because our life is not an easy one and is not like we can have conversations together every day or every week.” JOSE Mourinho admits he is concerned about Romelu Lukaku’s fallow form at United.
The Belgian has gone eight games without scoring for the Reds and his last goal was in the 2-1 win at Watford on September 15. At the same stage last season, Lukaku had scored 11 times but then suffered a sevenmatch drought.
The 25-year-old striker was overshadowed by Juventus’ own frontman Paulo Dybala on Tuesday night as the Argentinian scored the only goal in the Italian champions’ victory at Old Trafford.
Lukaku managed two goals on international duty with Belgium against Switzerland earlier this month but has lived up to his flat-track bully tag by struggling against eminent opponents Chelsea and Juve over the last week. “Yeah,” Mourinho replied when asked if he was concerned by Lukaku’s impotence. “No critics at all, a complete understanding the player is a fantastic professional that wants to give everything for the team but I have to agree his moment is not sweet. “Not just with the goals that he is not scoring but also in his confidence, in his movement, in his touch, he is not linking the game well with the team. But he’s our striker and a good striker and a striker we believe in. “Could I play Rashford there? But then I don’t have a winger because in this moment we are in this difficult situation. He (Lukaku) is a hard-working guy, is a good professional, but one day the goal will arrive and the confidence will be back. “We play against one of the biggest, really biggest, candidates Jose Mourinho on Romelu Lukaku to win the Champions League and we did the possible we could to get the different result,” Mourinho said of United’s third Old Trafford defeat this term. “Especially because of the way we played in the second half.
“We didn’t, especially because Mr Bonucci, Mr Chiellini, they could go to some Harvard University to give classes about how to be a central defender. Fantastic, absolutely fantastic.
“Is a team that has everything, they have talent everywhere. Of course Cristiano, Dybala, the talent they have in attack, but the quality all over the pitch and really difficult match.
“In the first-half they were in control by having a lot of the ball, they managed to hide the ball from us, to frustrate us, frustrate our intention to be positive in the game.
“In the second-half we were more aggressive, big effort by the boys, the same team that played two days ago, not really attacking solutions on the bench to try, no Fellaini to change the direction of the game like we do so many times.”