Is it a relationship of cooperation or competition between Manchester United strikers Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Romelu Lukaku? Ibrahimovic is definitely a larger than life figure who can’t truly be a super sub. Lukaku of course is the second most expensive player in club history, and you can’t leave him out of the first team either.
Both Lukaku and Ibrahimovic have been saying all the right things this season about this situation. Both men have said at the presence of the other makes their job easier, not harder.
United Manager Jose Mourinho has also said that both strikers can be on the pitch at the same time.
There are conflicting opinions out there from a couple of United club legends though. Gary Neville says that Ibrahimovic is not a threat a Lukaku, even though the Belgian continues to endure a scoring slump.
Neville said the following in an interview with Sky Sports: “I don’t see Zlatan Ibrahimovic as a threat to Lukaku at all but as a supplement.
“The only way Ibrahimovic can become number one is if the aura of Zlatan gets to Lukaku.”
“Zlatan is confident but Lukaku is number one, the fans and the manager believe in him and if he does have any demons then he needs to clear them from his mind.”
Meanwhile another former United defender, Rio Ferdinand, says that Lukaku is feeling the pressure of the presence of Ibrahimovic.
“He’ll come out of this. I think that maybe the bigger problem for him is Zlatan Ibrahimovic being there,” Ferdinand said in an interview with BT Sport.
“Mentally, having a big striker behind you who wants to play, that’s a pressure from within, and sometimes people find that hard to deal with.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune corporation blogging community Chicago Now.
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