Tuesday 17 May 2016 07:25, UK
Manchester United should sign Zlatan Ibrahimovic during the summer transfer window to give them back their spark, says Graeme Souness.
The charismatic striker is set to leave Ligue 1 champions Paris St Germain at the end of June, and has previously hinted that he could make the move across the Channel to the Premier League.
Although his agent told Sky Sports News HQ that United have not offered the 34-year-old a deal yet, Sky Sports pundit Souness thinks the Old Trafford hierarchy should be chasing him.
"I'd certainly like to see him in the Premier League, I'm a fan of his. I look at Man United and they need a spark," he said in a Sky Sports Facebook mentions broadcast.
"They need something to light a fire if they are not going to be in the Champions League. I can go back to George Best and Wille Morgan on the wings to David Beckham and Ryan Giggs.
"These people got you on the edge of your seat and United have not been that for a couple of years.
"Ibrahimovic would give you that. He'd get you on the edge of your seat and would that stadium and that pressure overawe him? Not at all.
"I think he could be the catalyst for United to get back to somewhere where you're watching them play the kind of football that you associate with Manchester United - the football that got you on the edge of your seat.
"Pay him what he wants, which would be a shed load of money and you'd certainly get one great year out of him and you might even get two great years out of him."
United have relied heavily on young strikers Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford this season, but Souness doesn't think their development should be a factor in bringing Ibrahimovic to Old Trafford.
"I don't think it's about blocking the development. He would be your main striker and you would fill in around him.
"United are not a club that can wait for people to become players. They have to have the finished article now and have to have success now so for me, that would be secondary.
"It's about getting someone on the pitch that can fire the supporters' imagination and get the team playing again with the kind of arrogance, if you like, that I've always associated with Man United.
"An arrogance which, if you're playing against them, annoyed you, but as much of a neutral as I can be, there's a lot to enjoy about that as well.
"If there's someone that can show a bit of arrogance but can back it up, he certainly can."