Rooney is perfect partner: Zlatan Ibrahimovic

“I think every big player can work with other big players”, Ibrahimovic told MUTV.

Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has refused to comment on the club’s apparent pursuit of Paul Pogba but has indicated there is still time to complete a deal.

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“When you play as a kid you don’t really think about success, you just want to play”, he said.

The Manchester United striker will lead a team against boyhood club Everton on Wednesday evening, and the match will be streamed to a potential audience of 1.7billion people.

“I like to think I’m always motivated as a player but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit more motivated when a new manager comes in, I’m sure all the lads will be happy to be working under Jose and also eager to impress”, he signed off.

The Blues travelled to Old Trafford to take on United for Wayne Rooney’s testimonial on Wednesday.

The match, which commences at 8pm, will pay tribute to the Manchester United stalwart with the proceeds to be distributed via the Wayne Rooney Foundation to the NSPCC, Claire House Hospice, Alder Hey Childrens Hospital and the Manchester United Foundation. “So I felt it was right to ask Everton and they have been very supportive of the game, so I’d like to thank them as well”. You have been fantastic.

But that stand-off did not come close to matching the controversy of the first, back in October 2010, when a week-long battle of wills saw Rooney come close to leaving for Manchester City before United’s American owners, the Glazer family, sanctioned a lucrative new contract for their prized asset to stay. The catch is that fans of Premiere League soccer matches inside the U.S. and some other countries have very little access to these games. The 30-year-old needs only five goals to surpass Charlton’s tally of 249. The eldest, Kai, was allowed to sit among the United substitutes – it was that kind of night – as two Premier League sides produced an uneventful show.

Former Paris St-Germain striker Ibrahimovic, who joined in July, was replaced in the 65th minute. There were some openings in the latter stages of the half with Ibrahimovic twice being denied by goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg.

The clearer chances on the night fell to Everton.

Mourinho looked equally fraught as the game lost all rhythm amid a procession of substitutions. “We need to play better”.

The Red Devils played out a bore draw 0-0 with the Toffees, with the best chances of the match perhaps going to Everton’s Kevin Mirallas and Romelu Lukaku in the first half.