Zlatan Ibrahimovic is reportedly close to joining Manchester United. Again.
His last appearance for the club saw him rupture knee ligaments in a Europa League meeting with Anderlecht last April. The injury, which was initially expected to keep him out for almost a year, saw United withdraw their offer of a one-year extension to the 35-year-old’s contract at Old Trafford.
Ibrahimovic has continued to use United’s facilities during his recuperation, despite being released by the club on July 1. His recovery is said to be well ahead of schedule and, due to this, Jose Mourinho openly admitted earlier in the summer that it was possible the former Sweden international might be offered a short-term deal with the club.
The exact date of Ibrahimovic’s return remains unclear, although some reports over the weekend claimed he could ink a new United deal as soon as this week.
If (when) he does return to United, he won’t be appearing in the number nine shirt he wore during the 2016/17 campaign. Romelu Lukaku took Ibrahimovic’s old number following his arrival from Everton in the summer – asking the former Paris Saint-Germain striker’s permission before doing so.
With Wayne Rooney moving in the opposite direction to Lukaku over the summer, United’s number ten shirt is vacant. It’s been suggested that Ibrahimovic, who wore ten during his five years at PSG, will inherit the number on his United return.
Now, according to the tweet below, Adidas’ US website is already allowing users to add Ibrahimovic’s name and the number ten to United’s latest home shirt.
On Adidas’ US website, if you want to personalise the shirt, one can select Ibrahimovic name with the number 10. pic.twitter.com/jD9khgGx1e
— Rahul Singh (@forevruntd) August 22, 2017
Although the images appear genuine, we’ve all seen enough of this sort of thing doing the rounds on social media in recent years to know not to completely trust it.
United have started the season with two 4-0 victories at home to West Ham and away at Swansea – enough to see them lead the Premier League table.
