Manchester United

David de Gea: 'Zlatan Ibrahimovic arrival has lifted Manchester United'

By Darren Plant, Senior Reporter | 01 August 2016

Goalkeeper David de Gea says that the arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic has lifted the Manchester United squad ahead of the new Premier League season.

Manchester United goalkeeper David de Gea has said that he and his teammates "have more energy" after witnessing the arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

United have endured a frustrating three seasons since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson, but the arrival of Jose Mourinho has coincided with the signings of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Eric Bailly and Ibrahimovic.

Ibrahimovic scored his first United goal in the pre-season friendly win over Galatasaray at the weekend, and De Gea has acknowledged that the Swede has already made a huge impact at the club.

The 25-year-old told MUTV: "It's really good to have Zlatan already here, training with the team. You can see he's a top player. He's massive, very big, with a lot of quality and of course he is a top striker.

"I think he will settle in very quickly. You can look and it seems like he has been playing here many years already and the same with the other guys we've signed.

"That gives us more energy when you see players like them coming to Manchester and now we have to train all together, trying to be fit as soon as possible and now we're going to play the first game against Leicester City with the Community Shield up for grabs."

United are also thought to be close to completing the signing of Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba.