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WATCH: Jose Mourinho Hammers Michael Owen Over Zlatan Comments

WATCH: Jose Mourinho Hammers Michael Owen Over Zlatan Comments

More beef between managers and pundits...

Josh Lawless

Josh Lawless

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has taken a dig at Michael Owen over the ex-Liverpool striker's comments on Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Mourinho jumped to the defence of his superstar forward after Owen branded the Swede a "stopgap striker" and seemed to hint that Ibrahimovic wasn't quite up to scratch to be considered first-choice at Old Trafford.

Speaking as a pundit on BT Sport last month, via The Independent, Owen said of Zlatan:

"He's definitely a stopgap striker isn't he.

"He's good but we're talking Manchester United, you need to be one of the best strikers in the world to [be] the regular striker here.

"Jose Mourinho didn't think the current crop were ready [when he arrived]. Rashford: not ready; Wayne Rooney: probably saw him as a No 10; Martial: didn't he him as a striker. So [Zlatan] is a stopgap."

Whether or not Ibrahimovic is a stopgap or not, the imposing 35-year-old is enjoying a pretty decent season for United, having scored 13 goals in 23 appearances so far - just think where they'd be without him!

Owen's comments might have been a few weeks ago, but it appears Mourinho has been waiting for an opportunity to bring it up, and when he sat down with Owen's BT Sport colleague Jake Humphrey, he didn't mince his words:

To be fair, Owen did manage that pretty special winner against Manchester City a few years back - if Zlatan scores a goal as memorable as that for United, he'll be doing well.

What do you think of Mourinho's comments? Is he right about Owen?

This story was first featured on talkingbaws.com - simple, shareable sport. Like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.

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Topics: Manchester United