Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho rules out a move for Zlatan Ibrahimovic

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Tottenham Hotspur have been linked with a move to sign free agent Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Jose Mourinho spoke to the Independent ahead of Tottenham’s Champions League clash at home against Olympiakos on Tuesday.

The former Manchester United and Chelsea boss returned to management in style with a 3-2 win against West Ham United on Saturday.

With Mourinho’s appointment, Tottenham were always going to be linked with high profile players and no rumour was bigger than that of the Telegraph when the reported that Spurs were eyeing a move for Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The Swede thrived under Mourinho during their time together at Inter Milan and Manchester United over the years. Spurs have just Harry Kane as their natural number nine and a move for a free agent like Ibrahimovic made sense. However, Mourinho has ruled out the possibility of signing the 38-year-old despite their success in the past.

“I have more than a connection, amazing player, amazing guy, but I would say no chance. We have the best striker in England, one of the top three in the world. It doesn’t make sense for Zlatan to come to a club where we have Harry Kane.”

Ibrahimovic would certainly have been Kane’s deputy at North London and it is unlikely that the veteran would have settled for that at this stage of his career. However, Spurs might have to look for a backup striker in January to reduce the burden on their star striker.

Lucas Moura and Son Heung-min have played there to good effect under Mauricio Pochettino but Mourinho has preferred strikers who are more physical in the past. Didier Drogba, Karim Benzema, Romelu Lukaku and Ibrahimovic are good examples of the style that the Spurs boss likes up top which increases the likelihood of signing a new forward in the upcoming transfer window.