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Zlatan Ibrahimovic believes Jose Mourinho is paying the price for years of ­mismanagement at Manchester United.

In a brutally honest assessment of his first season at Old Trafford, the Swedish striker came out shooting from the lip by admitting that the squad Mourinho inherited last summer isn’t good enough.

But with United toiling to break into the top four - despite a 20-game unbeaten run that has brought 10 frustrating draws - Ibrahimovic insists the boss isn’t to blame.

Ibrahimovic, who continues to contemplate his own future at the club, claims that Mourinho is still the same serial winner he first encountered at Inter almost a decade ago.

And he reckons the United manager is extracting everything out of the players at his disposal.

“I think Mourinho is doing maximum with the team he has,” said Ibrahimovic. “Absolutely. He is ­getting 200 per cent out of the team he has.

“I know him very well from the past. I think he is older and he is calmer, but he is still the same winner as before.

“I mean the mentality is there – ­because that you don’t lose. When you have it, you have it. It is nothing you learn, it is nothing you try to be. Either you are or you are not at ­winner.

“That’s why I think his season has been good. We have done a good season for the team we have. We have won two trophies and I think the coach is doing absolutely the maximum with the team.

“Of course, some games you are unlucky, some games you are lucky, some games you do mistakes, some games the mistakes can be accepted but you still get a win.

“This is part of the game. If we were good enough to be No 1, we would be No 1 in the table now. So we have to be realistic – and I think this season has been great.”

United, for so long the dominant force of the Premier League era, haven’t won the title since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013.

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And they have failed to qualify for the Champions League in two of the last three seasons.

Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has sanctioned incoming deals worth £366million in that time and shattered the world transfer record last summer when Paul Pogba was lured back from Juventus for £89million.

Yet it was the free transfer arrival of Ibrahimovic from Paris St Germain that has been United’s most astute piece of business.

The Swede has scored 27 goals this season – including the injury-time penalty that salvaged a point against Everton in midweek.

And Ibrahimovic is so accustomed to winning titles that he can instantly remember the times when he failed to finish top.

Zlatan has won championships in Holland, Italy, Spain and France in 11 out of 13 seasons with Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona, AC Milan and PSG.

And he said: “Our objective is now winning Europa League because it is just like finishing in the top four.

“But even for me, top four is a disappointment because the last time I came top four was 2011 with Milan, when I came in second place.

(Image: Action Images via Reuters)

“Before that was 10 years before with Ajax - so I am not used to being where I am now.

“So this is something new for me, but it is a situation I learn from. It is a challenge so I learn from that also.

“I don’t accept that we are in fifth position, but I do accept that I am here and I have to work through it. That’s the way it is.”

United are desperate to trigger an agreement that would see Ibrahimovic stay at Old Trafford for a second season, as much for his influence off the pitch as his goals on it.

Players like Pogba, Marcus Rashford and Jesse Lingard look to the 35-year-old for inspiration in much the same way that the Class of ‘92 viewed Eric Cantona.

And Ibrahimovic hinted that some members of the Old Trafford dressing room have struggled to cope with the demands of playing for Mourinho.

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He said: “The manager likes to look you in your eyes and tell you if you’re s**t or not - and I prefer that.

“He is direct and at least he sends you the message of what he thinks. He is the boss, he decides and he controls the situation.

“He told us at half-time against Everton that we were not good enough – and it was right that we heard that because we weren’t good enough.

“It is the way it works. I am from the old generation and I think the old generation was more like that.”

So what would winning the Europa League this season mean to Ibrahimovic?

“Just another trophy in the ­collection,” he said. “Just another day at work.”