Zlatan Ibrahimovic has revealed why Romelu Lukaku is to thank for him not rushing back from injury.

Manchester United's number 10 has been out since April after sustaining a serious ACL knee injury. Ibrahimovic landed awkwardly during the Red Devils' 2-1 win over Anderlecht in the Europa League.

Ibrahimovic underwent surgery and many doubted, at the age of 36, whether he would make a return to football, let alone Man United.

However, the striker has worked extremely hard to come back and revealed he would train at the Aon Training Complex on his own, opening and closing the training ground himself.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic following his horror injury (
Image:
REUTERS)
Lukaku has hit the ground running at Manchester United (
Image:
AFP PHOTO / AARON M. SPRECHERAARON M. SPRECHER/AFP/Getty Images)

Now close to a return, Ibrahimovic has spoken out on team-mate Lukaku - and explained how the Belgium star's excellent form has been good for him.

In an exclusive interview with MUTV , he said: "Yes, he’s doing fantastically well, but it’s no surprise. The only difference now is that he’s doing it at a big club, with all due respect for Everton and all the other clubs he played for.

"Now he’s doing it on the big scene where the pressure is totally different. I think when you’re playing for a top five club in the world the pressure is different compared to other clubs, with all due respect to them.

Zlatan a happy man back in the United dressing room (
Image:
Zlatan Ibrahimovic / Twitter)

"And now he’s doing it on the big scene, he’s showing what he’s good at – scoring goals – he’s a powerful machine. And I think he’s doing exactly what he needs to do – scoring goals and using his power, and not doing things he’s less good at and things he doesn’t need to do.

"He’s around 10 goals I think, so that’s been a big help to the team and as long as he’s scoring the goals I have less pressure to come back fast and the help he gives the team is even better. Hopefully he can continue being on that track producing like he’s doing."

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