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Zlatan Ibrahimovic is yet to feature this season due to an ongoing injury, but will he be a key player for Manchester United during the second half of the season?

The Swede scored 28 times last season as the club’s primary striker last year. There are no questions about his quality, however he is ageing and turned 36 at the beginning of the month.

Whether Mourinho can fit both Ibrahimovic and Romelu Lukaku into his starting XI remains to be seen, but Zlatan is back and fantasy managers should monitor his return with great interest.

Written by Harry Clark in association with @FPL_Updates

Zlatan’s debut season in the Premier League

The Swedish target man is expected to return to the United side just before the new year after several months out with a severe knee injury. In all competitions last season, Zlatan scored 28 times, 17 of which came in the Premier League. In addition to his impressive goal tally, he laid on a further 10 goals for his team mates, five of which came in the league.

On the Fantasy Premier League game, he racked up 163 FPL points in under 2500 minutes of football which works out at around six points per 90 minutes. He was priced at £11.4m at the end of last season and has been reduced to £10.0m this campaign which will make him the more tempting to select when he is finally back.

READ MORE: Where happened to all the elite Premier League strikers?

Zlatan’s historical goalscoring record

His record isn’t just fantastic in the Premier League. The Swede has also scored handsomely in the top flight of France, Spain, Italy and Holland. Below are his domestic scoring records in each of the countries with his respective club.

Ajax (2001-04)- 35 goals in 74 games

Juventus (2004-06)- 23 goals in 70 games

Inter Milan (2006-09)- 57 goals in 88 games

Barcelona (2009-11)- 16 goals in 29 games

AC Milan (2010-11)- 14 goals in 29 games (loan)

AC Milan (2011-12)- 28 goals in 32 games

Paris Saint Germain (2012-16)- 113 goals in 122 games

Manchester United (2016-)- 17 goals in 28 games.

How will Zlat lineup with Lukaku in the team?

Zlatan has been banging the goals in for over 16 years now and he doesn’t look like slowing down. So when his return in a United shirt finally come, where will he fit in Mourinho’s plans?

Man United have had a fantastic start to the season with their current 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 formation, but they will have to alter that to accommodate Zlatan due to Romelu Lukaku’s current scoring prowess.

If Mourinho wants the two strikers playing together then he will more than likely switch to a 3-5-2 formation with Henrik Mkhitaryan behind them. However this does mean either Anthony Martial or Marcus Rashford will play a more defensive role as a wingback, which may not be ideal.

READ MORE: Is Lukaku just a flat-track bully?

When will Zlatan return?

‘Zlatback’ is expected to be December 16, when United make the trip to West Brom in the league. The Red Devils’ following fixtures in the run in to New Years include Leicester (A), Burnley (H) and Southampton (H).

Their next big test will be Tottenham Hotspur on Jan 31, but games to Everton (A), Stoke (H) and Burnley (A) precede that.

Christmas and New Years’ time is the busiest section of the footballing calendar, with domestic cups also in full swing, in addition to bi-weekly league games. The third and fourth round of the FA Cup are played on Jan 6 and Jan 27 too and should United proceed to the semi-final of the EFL Cup again, they will play their first and second leg in that competition on Jan 8 and 22.

Zlatan should have more than his fair share of chances to play both with Lukaku and instead of him over this busy period.