Jose Mourinho drops strong hint over Manchester United future of Zlatan Ibrahimovic as he indicates Swedish striker could sign new Red Devils deal

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Jose Mourinho has offered the clearest indication yet that Zlatan Ibrahimovic will sign a new contract at Manchester United.

United did not extend Ibrahimovic's deal, worth £367,640 a week, at the end of last season after he suffered cruciate knee ligament damage in April.

That will likely keep him out of action until 2018 but, while discussing the merits of signing Romelu Lukaku for an initial £75million, Mourinho suggested the Swede could wear a United shirt again.

Jose Mourinho has hinted Zlatan Ibrahimovic may yet stay with Manchester United

The Swede has been rehabilitating his knee at the club since suffering an injury in April

'We spent big money on a striker because, with strikers, you either spend or you don't get,' Mourinho said.

'And we spent because of what happened to Zlatan and we can not allow ourselves to be without an important, strong striker for the first six months of the season.'

Ibrahimovic, who was due more than £2m in goal bonuses after netting 28 times during his debut campaign in England, also has interest from LA Galaxy.

The 35-year-old has been using United facilities to step up his rehabilitation and Mourinho is keen to give him an opportunity to regain peak fitness.

United boss Mourinho is keen to give Ibrahimovic the chance to regain peak fitness

That Ibrahimovic has any chance of playing again was viewed as astonishing by the American-based knee specialist Dr Fu, who hopes to conduct research on his body after retirement.

Meanwhile, Mourinho again defended his record of developing younger players - and insisted half of United's first team should eventually be made up of academy products on his watch.

'The reputation is the reputation,' he added. 'But the other day I found myself in the tunnel before the Real Madrid game and in the first half more than half of the Real team were guys who started with me and had debuts with me.

'So probably in a few years Man United will also have half a dozen of these kids. I think Scott (McTominay) and Dimitri (Mitchell) are also kids to have a future in the club and Andreas Pereira is back. So when the kids are good and have potential, there is no problem.'

The Swede impressed during his one season at Old Trafford, on a deal worth £367,640 a week