Manchester United

striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic

recovery from the knee injury that supposedly ended his season,

even hinting that he will be ready for the Europa League final

against Ajax on Wednesday.

He flew to the United States to undergo surgery, which

was a complete success, and continued his early

rehabilitation in Pittsburgh before returning to the UK on Tuesday.

The 35-year-old sustained an ACL injury against Anderlecht

last month which appeared to have prematurely ended both

his stay at United and perhaps even his career.

The surgeons who operated on him remarked that his knees

were so unusually strong they would like to study him

further in the future, though even they cannot have

imagined he would return this quickly.

Ibrahimovic took to Instagram to post a video of himself

seemingly doing resistance training in a swimming pool,

alongside the caption, ‘Ready for the final’.

The protective strapping he has been wearing

around his leg for so long was absent as he strolled

around the pool in his United training kit.

Of course, the likelihood of Ibrahimovic doing anything other

than cheering on his team-mates in Stockholm – and perhaps

lifting the Europa League trophy – is slim to none.

It would be virtually unheard of for a sportsman to recover from

an ACL injury so quickly, with only NFL running back Adrian

Peterson coming close.

Ibrahimovic had a sensational debut season for United, scoring

28 goals in all competitions before injury, and is desperate to

win the Europa League final in his native Sweden.

(Metro, UK)