Manchester United intend to take up their option to extend Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s contract for a second season, with José Mourinho confirming he is happy with the 35-year-old’s performance and the Swede himself revealing he could have come to Old Trafford a year earlier.

“Zlatan is happy, he is committed and he is loving his life at Manchester United,” Mourinho said, in reaction to reports suggesting the striker was considering a final move to the United States. “I think he sees this as probably the biggest challenge of his wonderful career. It would be perfect for him to be here for another 18 months, and then he can make a decision about his future.”

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Ibrahimovic stressed discussions had yet to take place but felt his one-year extension would be automatic if all parties were in favour, which at the moment they are. “I feel fresh, I feel in shape and right now I feel I could physically cope with a second year,” he said. “I know I am getting older but the older I get the better I get. It is true I have gone a few games without scoring this season but I am not worried about the goals. I have more than 450 in my career and as long as I am playing my normal game the goals will come automatically.

“I don’t see myself just as a goalscorer in any case. It is also part of my job to help create goals for others and at the moment I feel I can still do that. Now it is probably a ‘yes’ to another year but when the time for discussions comes I want to be realistic with myself. I want to be sure I will be able to perform like I can do and not waste anyone’s time.”

In an illustrious career that began with Malmo and has since taken in Ajax, Juventus, both Milan clubs, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain, Ibrahimovic has seldom been accused of wasting anyone’s time. “I enjoy a challenge,” he said. “I wanted to play in the Premier League because it is exciting but it is also tough physically. Opponents play for the whole 90 minutes and the top teams are not allowed to control games like they sometimes do in other leagues. I have tried to be more aggressive since I came to England but I have to be careful because I have started to pick up yellow cards.”

Ibrahimovic received an offer from United at the end of Louis van Gaal’s first season but turned it down out of loyalty to his French club. “I wanted to finish at PSG in the right way,” he said. “Of course accepting would have meant arriving at United a year younger and I knew it would be tough for a 35-year-old in the Premier League but my career shows I will never turn down a challenge. As long as people want me, I will do my best. I have never been one of those players who will sit in one place, waiting for their mother to cook for them. I will not do that. I will travel alone and try to conquer wherever I go. That’s what I have done in my career. It has not always been easy but if I had wanted everything to be perfectly straightforward I could have stayed in Malmo all the time.”

Mourinho himself has indicated he would be willing to stay at Old Trafford longer than his contracted three seasons but admitted results will need to improve if he is ever to be in a situation to be offered such a deal. “I would love to stay a long time, I think I am at the right club, but, of course, I would have to deserve it,” he said.

“We are right at the start of a process now, some of our results have not been good enough, so it is better to proceed step by step. I was given a three-year contract and that is a fair amount of time to get to where we want to be. I am not saying I expect results to show in my third year, I would prefer them right away, though I always knew aiming for the title in the first season was a risky statement to make.

“Even the greatest manager in the history of the Premier League needed a few years at this club to reach a successful period. We also need that time but equally I understand that this is a big club, with a big history, and people want big results.”

It is debatable whether qualification to the knockout stages of the Europa League counts as such but, with United in third place in their group for the visit of Feyenoord on Thursday, Mourinho believes his side are as good as playing knockout football already.

“The situation is perfectly simple, we don’t need calculators or favours from anyone else,” he said. “We need four points from our final two games. That’s a victory and a draw, there is no space for a defeat. So we will approach the Feyenoord game as if it is a knockout match, because that is practically what it is. We cannot afford to lose.”