Ibra deal shows how far once mighty Man Utd has fallen

Mourinho sees him in the same way as he did Didier Drogba in Chelsea’s 2014-2015 season when he came back, aged 36 and played 40 games in a title-winning team. That is the best argument in his favour and if he scores some goals at United, then even better — his total of 38 last season at Paris St-Germain was impressive, albeit in French football. But finding a leader also feels like the reason they signed Bastian Schweinsteiger last season. Ibrahimovic’s age is a consideration too, no matter what shape he is in. In the past Ferguson took some gambles on old players but never on this scale.

Laurent Blanc was 35 when he signed for United in 2001, and so too Henrik Larsson when he had two months on loan in 2007. Or look at it another way, Ruud van Nistelrooy was sold when he was 30. Roy Keane was considered expendable at 32. David Beckham was shown the door aged 28. These were all great United players but there was no indulgence of them. Rather there was great faith that there was someone younger and better ready to take their place. Ibrahimovic’s arrival has been compared to that of Eric Cantona but he was 26 when he came to United in 1992, and he did so in the process of rebuilding a career that had gone awry in France before he won the title at Leeds United. Ibrahimovic is winding down, and at a club where Ferguson once said the bus waited for no one, winding down was never good enough.