Understandably the future of Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been a hot topic in recent weeks. The Swede has been by far United’s best performer of the season, leading the scoring charts by some distance he has single-handedly carried them at times this campaign.

Everyone associated with United will hope a deal can be struck. Even at 35 Ibrahimovic is still one of the best strikers in world football. He’s the focal point of the side and would be extremely difficult to replace should he move on to pastures new this summer. There are just not a lot of world-class strikers of his ability and experience around.

United released an interview Ibrahimovic gave this week as reported on the Man United Official Website, extracts of which are shown below:

“Listen, if I had something to say I would already have said it. There is nothing to say. We are talking. If we are far from each other or close to each other… there is no news. There are still talks. So let’s see what will happen. I’m open. There is nothing done yet.”

The mercurial Swede was quick to put to bed the suggestion that his United future depended on whether or not there would be Champions League football on the agenda at Old Trafford next season.

“No, no. I came here without the Champions League and I came with the team as it was,” he explained. “It was not a team that was favourites to win but I still came. I came to help, I came to do what I’m able to do, I came to make it better and to bring the team and the club to higher views. Let’s see what happens.”

“I’m 35. A lot of things have to be settled. It’s not like I am 20 and I have another five to 10 years, I probably have one, two or three years. Everything depends on what you want and what the club wants and what the vision of the club is. I said from day one I didn’t come here to lose time, I came here to win.”

The signs suggest that a deal should be agreed between the two parties before too long. The most important player in United’s team will take some replacing when he eventually does leave. Removing him now would have a huge effect on United, who should be much more settled and have a larger, more well-rounded squad by the end of next season, making his loss not as significant as it would be now.

With Mourinho having sorted out United’s defence, and some big-name signings in the summer, if Ibrahimovic stays they will be one of the favourites for the title. Getting the 35-year-old to sign on the dotted line should be the United board’s number one priority right now.

Naturally today it was Zlatan Ibrahimovic who got the team going against Sunderland with a fine right footed curling effort from distance for the first goal to get United firing after a slow start at the Stadium of Light. Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Marcus Rashford also added goals to end their scoring droughts in a solid 3-0 win which would have pleased Jose Mourinho greatly.