Manchester United news: Zlatan Ibrahimovic's leadership qualities will benefit us, says Jose Mourinho

Swedish striker is set to make his debut for his new club on familiar ground next week

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been predicted to achieve big things at Old Trafford by his new manager, Jose Mourinho (Getty)

Jose Mourinho claims Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s determination to end his career as a winner in the Premier League will propel him to success at Manchester United.

Ibrahimovic is expected to make his United debut against Galatasaray in Gothenburg next week after missing the club’s two-game tour of China due to an extended break following his participation at Euro 2016 with Sweden.

The free transfer signing from Paris Saint-Germain arrives at Old Trafford with question marks hanging over is ability to physically cope with the demands of an English season.

But having worked with Ibrahimovic at Internazionale, Mourinho insists there is no reason to doubt his capability to stand out in the Premier League with United.

“Let’s be honest, he (Ibrahimovic) is very rich,” Mourinho said. “He’s made money all his career, he’s won a lot of things, so you only come to the most difficult championship in the world if you feel you can do it.

“If you don’t feel you can do it, you go to America, China or stay in the French League one more season.

“So the guy wanted this one more challenge. When I told him that I had won in England, Spain and Italy and he hadn’t, that he’d done Spain, Italy and France, he thought, ‘Ahh, I want to go. I want to win every one.’

“So his motivation is high and his body is amazing.

“On Sunday, he is going to start a specific programme we have prepared before he joins our group on the Thursday, so he has five days just for him.”

At 34, Ibrahimovic arrives at United in the twilight of his career, but Mourinho claims that his age should be forgotten about when judging his contribution.

Jose Mourinho oversees Manchester United training in Shanghai this week (Getty)

“First of all, I know him very well,” Mourinho said. “I always think there’s our age in ID terms but then there’s our real age.

“For me, the real age is not the age on your ID. That’s just a date when you were born. The real age, the real ID is your body, your brain, your attitude and this guy is young, his body is amazing.

“The way he grew up playing the sports he did before football, especially martial arts, he was prepared in terms of his muscles and the mental point of view in a different way to the traditional football player, his DNA, his motivation.

“I expect he is going to be very good for us.”

While Mourinho has confirmed that Wayne Rooney will retain the captaincy under his management at United, the new manager admits that he wants more leaders on the pitch.

He expects Ibrahimovic to perform that role, but Mourinho also insists that he has been impressed by the leadership qualities within the squad he has inherited from Louis van Gaal.

“Sometimes people say the team has no leaders, it’s this, it’s that, but what we need is everybody with the same kind of mentality,” Mourinho said. “I like communication and push them to communicate.

“I give a lot of instruction in training. It’s difficult for me to do the same in matches so I need guys on the pitch to read the game, to understand what we want.

“Zlatan is going to be one of them and I feel already that we have guys to do the same. I don’t think we’re going to have a problem at that level.

“We have lots of quality. When I see our group in the attacking area – Zlatan, [Marcus] Rashford, Rooney, [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan, [Juan] Mata, all the wingers we have, I think we have lots of quality in attack to produce good football and score goals.”