How will Manchester United squeeze Romelu Lukaku and Zlatan Ibrahimovic into Jose Mourinho's line-up?

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They could become one of the Premier League's most fearsome strike forces. Or Jose Mourinho could have just created an almighty clash between two heavyweight forwards.

The re-signing of Zlatan Ibrahimovic on a one-year deal has the potential to put Romelu Lukaku's nose out of joint.

Come October when the Swede is due back from the knee injury that ended his first season at United (although not before he scored 28 times) Mourinho will see if it is a partnership he can forge together, or one that causes needless tension.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has touched back down at Manchester United and wants to start games

Romelu Lukaku has made a huge impact since his arrival, but his nose may be put out of joint

In most instances a club signing a 35-year-old veteran on a short-term contract would cause no qualms for their new £75million striker, one who has already scored four goals in his first three games. 

He would be a back-up, the striker would assume, there in case of injury to the main man. Yet Ibrahimovic is no normal 35-year-old and he has not extended his spell at Old Trafford for a better view from the dugout than the season-ticket holders. 

This is a man who posted a picture of himself dressed as Jesus locked in an arm-wrestle with a Red Devil on social media upon announcement of the deal. He is not expecting to be a 'Cup Striker'. 

When the news broke on Thursday and Ibrahimovic addressed the prospect of an issue, yet even while downplaying a potential conflict he could resist a minor dig at his rival, after giving up the No 9 shirt to him.

'I am happy he came and I think the team is much stronger this season,' Ibrahimovic said of his team-mate. 'Signing Lukaku makes us even stronger because he has different qualities from me as a striker and from Rashford as a striker. He is a powerful guy and he will bring some extra quality in the game.

Both strikers are powerful players and huge personalities within the dressing room

United made a big deal of Ibrahimovic's return and have handed him the No 10 shirt

'I mean, Lukaku called me and he said, 'Bro, can I get the No 9?' Ibrahimovic said. 'I said, 'Listen, I'm not on that level where 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.'

It doesn't take much to rile strikers, who can be hard on the surface but sensitive souls beneath. Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham barely shared a word during four years at United together due to a conflict of surprisingly minor conception.

'Some might be surprised our rift had such apparently mundane roots,' Cole wrote in a column for The Independent in 2010. 'It was early 1995, I had recently signed for Manchester United, and it was my England debut, against Uruguay. I was a sub. I came on for Sheringham (then at Tottenham).

'I was so nervous it was frightening. This was the culmination of a lifetime of ambition. You hear the cliché, 'It means everything to play for my country'. But trust me, it did. 'I walked on to the pitch, 60,000 or so watching. Sheringham is coming off. I expect a brief handshake, a 'Good luck, Coley', something. I am ready to shake. He snubs me. He actively snubs me, for no reason I was ever aware of then or since. He walks off.

United's former No 9 and 10 duo, Andy Cole and Teddy Sheringham, famously didn't get on

'I don't even know the bloke so he can't have any issue with me. We're fellow England players, it is my debut and he snubs me.

'I was embarrassed. I was confused. And there you have it. From that moment on, I knew Sheringham was not for me.' 

Maybe it won't matter at all for Ibrahimovic and Lukaku. Disdain did not stop Cole and Sheringham scoring a phenomenal amount of goals as partners, winning three Premier League titles, an FA Cup and the Champions League together.