Zlatan Ibrahimovic sends reminder to Manchester United in 'King Kong' Instagram post

The Swede is currently recovering from a major knee ligament injury suffered in April

Zlatan Ibrahimovic's contract at Manchester United expired in June (Getty)

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has reminded Manchester United of his prime physical condition, shortly after Jose Mourinho suggested that the 35-year-old could yet play for the club again.

Ibrahimovic’s future currently hangs in the balance after a major knee ligament injury put paid to hopes that his one-year Old Trafford contract would be extended this summer.

Despite being released by United at the end of June, the Swede has since used the club’s facilities to aid his recovery and may sign a short-term deal in Manchester once he has proved his fitness.

On Thursday, Ibrahimovic took to Instagram to show that his rehabilitation is going to plan, posting a photograph of himself stood half-naked, juxtaposed with an image of King Kong.

The caption simply read: “King and Kong”.

After United’s 1-0 pre-season friendly defeat to Barcelona the previous day, Mourinho hinted that he expected Ibrahimovic to return to the fold in six months’ time.

“We spent big money on a striker because, with strikers, you either spend or you don't get," he said after the defeat in Maryland.

“We spent because of what happened to Zlatan and we cannot allow ourselves to be without an important, strong striker for the first six months of the season.”

Paul Pogba, Ibrahimovic’s former team-mate, claimed earlier this week that Ibrahimovic’s presence was still felt and that the striker was “still in the team”, despite his injury lay-off and contractual situation.

“Obviously Zlatan is a leader, always a big leader,” Pogba said. “He’s still a big leader because he's still in the team, even when he's not playing he's a leader outside of the pitch.

“I've been playing for one season, I came here to hopefully be a leader as well in the team. That's not like the objective, but that's how you should be.

“I've been here, we won and we want to grow up as a player and a leader as well. I can learn from him, from Carras [Michael Carrick], from all the players and become a leader.”