Zlatan Ibrahimovic is already making an impact at Manchester United despite not having kicked a ball for them in anger. The Swede has been praised for the impact he has had on the dressing room and training by Red Devils boss Jose Mourinho, with United goalkeeper David de Gea also praising the striker for quickly assimilating into United’s squad.
Mourinho identified Zlatan Ibrahimovic as a crucial target upon arriving at Old Trafford and has been pleased with the Swede’s contribution so far. Speaking to MUTV, Mourinho was unsurprisingly lavish in his praise, saying “With Zlatan you may see someone with a big ego, big self-esteem, but it is in a positive way. When he is with the group, he is humble and friendly to everyone – integration is good.”
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The Swede was a free signing after seeing out his contract at Paris St. Germain, and Mourinho is already pleased with how his first training session with his new teammates went, saying “Zlatan is a fantastic player and, immediately in training, we could feel what I call 'functional empathy' – people looking to him, him looking to connect with other players. He is an amazing link player, an amazing player. He could be anything on the pitch, not just a goalscorer.”
David de Gea also impressed with Zlatan’s adaptation
Manchester United’s player of the season last year, David de Gea has also been impressed with the qualities Ibrahimovic brings to the table. The Spanish goalkeeper has a full view of the pitch in training and immediately identified Zlatan as a top striker, saying “It's really good to have Zlatan already here training with the team. You can see he's a top player, he's massive, very big, with a lot of quality and of course he is a top striker.”
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De Gea suffered in the initial few months of his United career, with Sir Alex Ferguson having to defend the Spaniard’s error-strewn performances often. United’s goalkeeper, however, has no such qualms about Ibrahimovic and the rest of United’s signings so far, Eric Bailly and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, saying “I think he [Ibrahimovic] will settle in very quickly. You can look and it seems like he has been playing here many years already and the same with the other guys we've signed.”
“They are playing really well, their training has been top and I think that we have signed really good players.”
