Zlatan Ibrahimovic by Mirror

With a massive £80m sitting in the bank after one particular summer transfer Manchester United are combing the highest ranks of European strikers to replace the 30-goal-a-season-sized hole left by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Sir Alex Ferguson is considering a move for Serie A superstar Zlatan Ibrahimovic to provide a deadly strike force alongside newly signed Michael Owen. Here’s everything you need to know about the fiery Inter Milan front man...

1. Ibrahimovic was born to a Bosnian father and Croatian mother on 3 October 1981 in Malmo, South Sweden. He almost gave up football at 15 but was convinced by his coach to carry on playing, eventually dropping out of school to pursue his prolific career, joining home town club Malmo in 1996 and graduating to the senior side three years later.

2. If Fergie is hoping to get his man over on a trial, he would probably be out of luck. Ibrahimovic's performances with Malmo caught the eye of Arsene Wenger, who later said Ibrahimovic had gone to Highbury on trial. The striker's response was to insist he had had a Highbury tour rather than an audition, flouncing: "I didn't have a trial at Arsenal, I came to visit. Some scout was in Sweden and he looked at me and said, 'I invite you to Arsenal.' Wenger wanted me to do a trial and I said, 'I don't do trials. I come here because you know who I am.'"

3. It was Ajax who secured the Swede's services instead, securing a €7.8million transfer in 2001. He managed 35 goals in 74 appearances, including this beauty against NAC Breda which Eurosport named goal of the season.

But he left under a cloud in 2004 after a Sweden-Netherlands friendly saw him injure Ajax strike partner Rafael Van der Vaart, who accused him of doing it deliberately, and Ibrahimovic was quickly sold to Juventus for €19million.

4. An injury to David Trezeguet meant he settled into a first team place almost immediately. After 23 goals in two seasons with Juve, the Calciopoli match-fixing scandal saw the club relegated to Serie B and Ibrahimovic wasn't keen to stick around to help get them back to the big time, his agent confirming he would be prepared to take legal action to escape his contract. It did not come to that though, Inter Milan snapping him up in a deal worth €12m a year.

5. He was a goal-scoring hit at Inter, bagging 15 goals in his first season to be the club's top scorer. He was named in the 2007 UEFA Team of the Year 2007 alongside Steve Gerrard, John Terry, Lionel Messi and Didier Drogba.

6. Last season he notched an impressive 25 goals to win the coveted capocannonieri, Serie A's golden boot. And those performances led Inter boss Jose Mourinho to name him “the best player in the world, ahead of (Cristiano) Ronaldo”. He also landed the “Oscar del Calcio”, footballer of the year as voted by the Italian Association of Footballers, due to some cracking goals.

7. Ibrahimovic has won the Italian league every year since he has started playing with Inter - but after celebrating this year's win he did not really fancy playing the whole 90 minutes against Siena. An unsympathetic Mourinho ignored his pleas to be substituted - even changing the goalkeeper instead...

8. A Swedish international with more than 50 caps, Ibrahimovic made his debut for Sweden in January 2001 against the Faroe Islands. He could fit in well in England - he missed from the penalty spot against Holland at Euro 2004. His tournament scoring record leaves something to be desired, with a scoreless 2006 World Cup and a two year drought during the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.

9. That qualifying campaign was interrupted by a self-imposed boycott over what he felt was unfair punishment from coach Lars Lagerback. Ibrahimovic, along with Christian Wilhelmsson and Olof Mellberg, had headed for a night club two days before a qualifier against Lichtenstein. They didn't drink alcohol but they had broken their curfew and were sent home from the squad. Mellberg and Wilhelmsson took their punishment - Ibrahimovic boycotted the next three internationals.

10. At 6ft3ins tall the Swede is known for his ability to push past defenders and use his deft touch to set up goal scoring opportunities - skills which have seen him consistently rated among the best world's best strikers.