Zlatan Ibrahimovic will miss Manchester United’s pre-season tour of China, but the location of his debut will act as consolation for the player.
Jose Mourinho will omit the Swedish forward, signed on a free-transfer from Paris Saint-Germain, from his squad to travel to the Asia, according to The Daily Mail.
The new United manager is set to give the player extra-time off and therefore his debut will be pushed back so he will miss the games against Borussia Dortmund in Shanghai on July 22, and Manchester City three days later.
Wayne Rooney, Chris Smalling and Marcus Rashford – all of whom played for England at Euro 2016 – will be part of United’s squad, but Mourinho has said they won’t feature in the games.
The next game Ibrahimovic is available for is United’s reserves fixture against Salford City, owned by the Class of ’92 members – and Gary Neville seems to think the striker will be on lining out on July 26.
Anyone fancy @SalfordCityFC v @ManUtd reserves at Moor Lane 26th July!!
Zlatan first game!! https://t.co/LRkvIzt0CQ— Gary Neville (@GNev2) July 11, 2016
However, it appears more likely that Zlatan’s first game for United will be against Galatasaray in Gothenburg on July 30.
If the 34-year-old does feature on the day, it could be the last game he plays in Sweden, after retiring from international duty at the end of Euro 2016. The Swedish legend will undoubtedly receive a hero’s reception from the crowd.
If Zlatan doesn’t play, the next game after that will be Wayne Rooney’s testimonial at Old Trafford on August 3, before United take on Leicester City in the Community Shield on 7 August.
