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Mourinho rules out signing a striker to replace Ibrahimovic

Marcus Rashford’s versatility means the club do not need to sign a replacement for the Swede, according to Mourinho.

JOSE MOURINHO HAS ruled out Manchester United signing a striker in the next transfer window despite the departure of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Swede Ibrahimovic left Old Trafford to join MLS side LA Galaxy having made just seven appearances in his second season at Old Trafford.

Still, without the services of the 36-year-old, who scored 28 goals in 46 games and won the EFL Cup and Europa League in his debut campaign in England, United do not have an obvious replacement for Romelu Lukaku in their current squad, should the Belgian get injured.

Yet Mourinho – who signed Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal in the January transfer window – insists he already has enough attacking options at his disposal, particularly with Marcus Rashford able to play in a number of positions.

“We have Lukaku and Marcus Rashford as number nines, and of course Marcus can play right and left, but Marcus is a striker,” he told the media.

“Alexis can play as a striker, [Anthony] Martial can play as a striker, so without having another Lukaku, we have three more players that can play as a nine.”

The Portuguese coach also revealed he would consider switching formations should he be without the services of leading scorer Lukaku.

“If we don’t have Lukaku for different reasons, we can change systems and play with two and give more mobility to, for example, Marcus and Martial together, Marcus and Alexis together, so we are not going to go for another number nine,” Mourinho added.

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