Mourinho: Ibrahimovic injury would be a ‘disaster’

The United chief was also asked about the lavish lure of the Chinese Super League, with one of his former players at Chelsea, Oscar, set to join Shanghai SIPG for around £60 million. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a clear 11/4 favourite in the first goalscorer betting, followed by Marcus Rashford and Wayne Rooney at 7/2, while 10/1 shot Alvaro Negredo is deemed the biggest threat to the home side.

United, who are sixth in the Premier League, host Middlesbrough tomorrow.

“If we added points that we deserved, we would be in a better position”.

Karanka said: “Speaking about Fabio, we had other players to come here and they said they didn’t come because they felt it would be hard to play because George Friend was playing”.

Mourinho is adamant that more is to come from Pogba, though, and backed him to eventually win the Ballon d’Or, if the prize is judged on more than goals alone. That’s not something for the January market. In Spain, Messi and Cristiano (Ronaldo) have a lot of penalties to score.

“He was 19 years old when I went to see him, had my first talks with him and I realised I was dealing with an absolute victor”, Beenhakker told De Telegraaf.

“He’s my friend, he’s a real friend”, Mourinho said of their relationship. The side are the joint second lowest scorers in the division with only 16 goals in 18 matches. “It’s not so easy to score goals“.

However his powers have visibly been on the wane over the last few seasons and he has finally been dropped to a bit part role during this campaign.

With that in mind, Mourinho insists it is not a foregone conclusion that Depay departs.

Indeed, Mourinho admitted permanent transfers are a different matter and suggested that they’ve yet to accept any offers for any of their stars.

“But he is a midfielder, and in my opinion the best midfielder in the world”.

“He has a high level of education, super polite, super professional, and works really hard”.

Get 6/1 enhanced odds on Man United to beat Middlesbrough, or your money back as a free bet if you lose.