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LONDON. – Paul Pogba has rallied behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic, insisting the talismanic striker will return strongly from his cruciate knee injury, after Manchester United released the Swedish forward. It also emerged yesterday that England captain Wayne Rooney is set to stay for another season at the Red Devils.

The Swedish striker suffered a cruciate ligament injury in the Europa League semi-final against Celta Vigo and is expected to be out of action until the start of 2018.

‘‘He is a player who helped us a lot from an athletic point of view as well as from the mental side on and off the pitch,’’ Pogba told Sky Sports.

‘‘He’s a wonderful person, incredibly funny, I only spend great moments with him.

‘‘On the pitch he is a winner, he added this mentality to our team. He scored a lot of goals this season, nobody would have thought that given his age,’’ Pogba added.

But the Frenchman maintains the one factor which will help his team-mate return stronger than ever, is him simply being himself.

‘‘He was unlucky and suffered a bad injury but he won three trophies with us. He will always be Zlatan,’’ said Pogba.

And while he will be allowed to train with the club as he recovers from the injury, United have decided against handing him a new deal, given he will be absent for most of next season.

United sought to ensure that the release of Ibrahimovic would be as friendly as possible, given he is a well respected figure in the dressing room.

But the injury and his wages, which includes a basic £367,640-a-week, mean he has not been handed a new deal. – Mailonline.