Zlatan Ibrahimovic has revealed that he had “upgraded” his Manchester United shirt number to 10 after agreeing to Romelu Lukaku’s wish to wear No. 9.
Ibrahimovic will be back for United later this season after signing a new contract at the club, despite the striker being currently sidelined by a knee ligament injury sustained in April.
“Lukaku called me and said: ‘Bro, can I get the No. 9 shirt?'” Ibrahimovic said. “I said: ‘I’m not on that level that I will make it difficult for you, I just want you to feel happy and feel welcome, so I give you the No. 9 but I will take the No. 10.’ That’s the way we do it.
“So I never left, I just upgraded my number.”
“I’m happy he came,” Ibrahimovic said. “I think the team is much stronger this season although we lost Rooney, a legend.
“We took three new players and with these three new players the team is stronger.
“From the first year going to United, the team has been winning trophies and learning the sacrifice it takes to win a trophy, and the mental part, and that is where I think the coach brought the team, the mental thing and me as a player.
“And signing Lukaku makes us even stronger because he has different qualities from me as a striker and from [Marcus] Rashford as a striker.
“He is a powerful guy and he brings extra qualities in a game.”
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