It’s men united as Ibra backs under-fire boss

NOT since Alex Ferguson and Roy Keane were at their snarling best have Manchester United seen a manager-player relationship as close as the one between Jose Mourinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

So it should be no surprise that ahead of today’s game at Sunderland, and with Mourinho facing criticism despite a 20match unbeaten run, Ibrahimovic is the first to come to his rescue and join him in encouraging the club to spend again this summer

‘I think the coach is doing the absolute maximum with the team he has. Two hundred per cent. If we were good enough to be number one, we would be number one in the table,’ argues the 27-goal striker, who won a Serie A title with Mourinho at Inter Milan.

‘He still has the same winning mentality, because that you don’t lose.’

Ibrahimovic has won 11 league titles in his last 13 years as a player, with Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan and Paris St-Germain.

He has been exempt from Mourinho’s sharp tongue this term. At the training ground, the 35-year-old ‘Lion’ has taken it upon himself to be his manager’s Keane-style enforcer.

Ibrahimovic’s style is a long way removed from the humble behaviour Ferguson expected of his star players

Mourinho doesn’t mind, though. He uses Ibrahimovic as a weapon to raise standards. In return, the centre-forward is happy to back the manager. ‘I know him very well. He is direct in his work. He likes to look into your eyes and tell you if you’re s*** or not. I prefer that,’ says Ibra, who is holding talks with the club about extending his one-year deal. ‘At half-time against Everton [last Tuesday] he told us we were not good enough. We should hear it because we were not.’ The timing of Ibrahimovic’s comments are interesting because almost by coincidence Mourinho has launched a campaign to try and push Ed Woodward and the United owners to sanction another round of heavy spending – despite nearly half a billion being spent since Ferguson retired in 2013.

‘What we have now is not bad at all but if you ask me how far we are from having the team I want, it’s far. Very far,’ said the manager.

Explaining his approach to young players like Marcus Rashford, Mourinho insisted: ‘We want the young boys to play and to perform. At the same time, the best teams want to win and it is difficult to win with the learning curve of the young boys.

‘It’s different at big clubs. There is a Portuguese kid, Renato Sanches, who is a European champion. But he doesn’t play in Bayern Munich. The last match he played, they lost to Hoffenheim. Will he play in the Champions League quarter-finals? I have my doubts. You know, there are contradictions in all of us.’

Contradictory is a good word to describe United’s season.

Going unbeaten for nearly six months is impressive yet half the games have been draws, leaving the club in sixth place.

‘Even top four is a disappointment because the last time I didn’t win a title was 2012 when Milan came second.

‘The last time before that was at Ajax in 2003. I am not used to being where I am now,’ Ibra said.

As long as Ibrahimovic is in the United dressing room, Mourinho will know he has one player signing from the same hymn sheet.