Lukaku, 24, has scored four goals in his first three Manchester United starts but is set to face competition from 35-year-old Ibrahimovic when the Swede returns from injury later in the season.
United's
decision to re-sign Ibrahimovic has bolstered Mourinho's attack but
could also provide him with a dilemma as to who starts up front during
the run-in, when United will hope to be challenging for the Premier
League.
Mourinho
had already fielded over half-a-dozen questions on Ibrahimovic's return
before he was asked about whether Lukaku and Ibrahimovic could form a
successful axis.
"No," Mourinho replied, refusing to take any
more questions on Ibrahimovic. "In this moment they can speak on the
phone that is all they can do, not even face-to-face because he
[Ibrahimovic]’s not here."
Earlier, Mourinho said: "If we
progress in the Champions League and if we progress in one of the two
cups, I don’t even say both, if we do that we are going to be in the
position where we couldn’t do it only with Lukaku and Rashford,
especially if I play both together because if I play one and the other
one is on the bench, okay, but I am playing with both?
"So if I play with both, I need a striker, so probably in January I
would be knocking on Ed Woodward’s door asking for a striker for the
second part of the season and I don’t need to. I have one of the best in
the world. I don’t have another one to play so I cannot give rest to my
players, I cannot do rotation with them like I am going to do with the
midfield players or the central defenders or with the wingers.
"So
we need a striker and we have one striker just around the corner that
belongs to our family, that likes to be with us ad play for us. We know
well and he is one of the best strikers in the world so the only
consequence of it is we are going to have a much better squad."
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