Zlatan Ibrahimovic excited by prospect of making his Manchester United debut in Sweden

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is excited by the prospect of making his Manchester United debut in Sweden. The 34-year-old striker is expected to feature for the Reds when they play Galatasaray in a pre-season friendly in Gotherburg later today (30 July) and Ibrahimovic is eager to don the United shirt for the first time.

Ibrahimovic recently retired from international football after Sweden were eliminated from Euro 2016 in the opening round of the tournament. He is, however, the country's leading goalscorer of all time and a national hero in his homeland. Ibrahimovic admitted making his debut in Sweden would be extra special.

"Everybody has been waiting for that moment. There has been a lot of talk and to make my debut in my country will feel great," he told MUTV. "I think the fans are waiting for me to come back and they are waiting to enjoy not only me, but the team as well. Hopefully, we can give them a good game and, at the same time, we are in the preparation.

"We need to keep focused, to build up the physical part and the conditioning part but we will give them what they want."

Meanwhile, Ibrahimovic – who joined United after the Premier League giants struck an eye-watering deal with his agent, Dutchman Mino Raiola – revealed has a positive impression of his new teammates after returning to training earlier this week. "They seem to be good guys, quality players, they train very hard and, during the training, are very focused," the United star said.

"The coach – he is direct, he is concrete, he says what he wants and the players are adapting. So there are only positive things. I believe in working hard. Not only in games, but even in training. The way you train is the way you play in the games – that's my philosophy. Working hard, training hard and feeling good. Then you need to get the rhythm by playing games."