Manchester United: David Ginola urges Red Devils to not sign Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Former Tottenham Hotspur forward David Ginola has urged Manchester United to pass up on signing Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and continue blooding youngsters, who have made a difference this season. Louis van Gaal's management has unearthed gems like Marcus Rashford, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Jesse Lingard and Ginola believes that signing Ibrahimovic would be moving away from their youth policy.

Rashford has been the pick of the youngsters this season, scoring twice against Arsenal and also the winner against Manchester City, having come in to compensate for the injury to Wayne Rooney, who is yet to play a single competitive game since February with a knee problem. Ibrahimovic has been linked with a move to the Premier League, with United believed to be favourites for his signature.

Ginola insists that United have already tried spending a lot of over the past couple of seasons but have had to fall back on youngsters to save their seasons. Meanwhile, it is reported that the Swede would only consider a move to Old Trafford if Van Gaal is given the sack after the end of the current season.

"It is better to build a team around the youth and what they are doing at Man United right now with Rashford, Lingard and Martial, I would rather see that. Louis van Gaal has spent £200m ($285m) on players and at the moment he is relying on 18-year-old kids. What is the point [of spending that money]?" Ginola told talkSPORT.

"We are looking for teams and massive clubs like Man United to invest very significant amounts of money on the youth and the academy. Barcelona for ten years worked really hard to bring talent from the academy right up to the first team and that is exactly what they have done. I see the future going that way rather than spending hundreds of millions on players.

"I don't want to see mercenaries in football. I want to see people who know inside out what the history of the club is all about and when you wear the shirt, you really play for them," he added.