Zlatan Ibrahimovic gets special treatment as he is afforded extended break in Los Angeles while rest of the Manchester United squad head to China
Jose Mourinho allows marquee signing extra holiday despite Sweden's early exit from Euro 2016
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MANCHESTER UNITED boss Jose Mourinho has made clear where his preferences lie ahead of the new season after giving marquee signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic an extended holiday ahead of the new season.
While Mourinho and a 25-man squad first headed to the Carrington training complex before jetting to the Far East for their pre-season tour of China, Swedish striker Ibrahimovic was given more time off.
That's despite Ibra, who scored 50 goals for Paris Saint-Germain last season, barely making an impact ahead of Euro 2016.
The 34-year-old striker failed to score in any of his three games in France with Sweden enduring a terrible campaign that saw them finish bottom of Group E with just one goal and one point.
However, Mourinho has made it very clear who his No 1 option will be next season by affording Zlatan more time to explore Los Angeles.
The striker didn't fly to China, where Manchester United will play local rivals Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund in a quick tour of the country.
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Ibrahimovic's omission from the touring party may well irk some other members of the United dressing room, with Mourinho seemingly establishing a hierarchy.
The striker last played a game on 22 June - a full five days before club captain Wayne Rooney and other England players suffered their humiliating defeat to Iceland in the last-16.
Chris Smalling and Marcus Rashford have travelled to China despite playing on 27 June, as has Spain goalkeeper David De Gea, who played when Spain were beaten by Italy earlier the same day.
Bar Ibrahimovic, the only other players who were allowed to miss the tour reached at least the last-16 of the competition.
Marouane Fellaini (Belgium) reached the quarter-final, Bastian Schweinsteiger (Germany) got to the semi-final, while Morgan Schneiderlin and Anthony Martial were both in the French squad that were beaten in the final - all four of those players will miss the tour to the Far East.
Ibrahimovic now gets more than a week's extra rest and instead of playing two games in a matter of days, he will instead, Ibrahimovic will likely make his first performance in club colours in the pre-season friendly against Galatasaray in Sweden on 30 July.
He'll have just three matches to get fully fit in time for his first campaign in the Premier League, with Wayne Rooney's testimonial against Everton and the Community Shield the only other two games before United kick-off at Bournemouth on 14 August.