Former Manchester United striker Danny Webber feels the Red Devils could offer Zlatan Ibrahimovic a new contract but on reduced terms.
Ibrahimovic, who has scored 28 goals in all competitions this season, suffered a serious knee injury last week and is expected to be out of action for the rest of the year.
His contract with Manchester United expires at the end of the season and while the Red Devils were pushing hard to extend his stay, the situation has changed following the injury.
Webber feels Manchester United hold all the cards at the moment when it comes to offering him a new deal and he doesn’t believe that the club would want to keep Ibrahimovic on his current high wages.
However, the former Red Devil is of the opinion that Manchester United will offer him an extension but not on the terms that Ibrahimovic would necessarily like.
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Asked if the veteran Swede will ever be seen in a Manchester United shirt again, Webber said on BBC Radio Manchester’s Red Wednesday Programme: “I think it’s a difficult one.
“He held all the cards until he had the injury and now it’s happened and the club can sort of pull away a little bit.
“I don’t see why they would give him that level of wage if he is going to stay to have him injured.
“An average cruciate ligament injury takes around nine months and they just can’t renew his deal and have him sit there earning a lot of money unless they think that he is going to add massive amount of value when he comes back.
“He has done so well and it was a formality that he would have the option at the end of the season to renew his contract but the ball’s in United’s court now on what they want to offer him.
“I think United would offer him something, but I don’t think it would relate to what he values himself at.”
Ibrahimovic will undergo surgery in the United States soon and is expected to take at least nine months to recover.
