Only Ruud van Nistelrooy, with 12 goals, has scored more than Zlatan Ibrahimovic in his first 16 Premier League games for Manchester United (the big Swede is level with Robin van Persie and Andy Cole's 11-goal totals within the same number of games).
Zlatan's 16 goals in all competitions has him sitting 11 clear in United's overall standings; not bad for some 35-year-old bloke who they signed on a free this summer.
There are doubtless more goals to come from Ibrahimovic, but his status off the field is almost as valuable to United as his prolificacy on it. What an experience it must be for the likes of Marcus Rashford to train and play alongside one of the best strikers of this era, and indeed Timothy Fosu-Mensah was seen carrying a copy of I Am Zlatan as United travelled to Zorya for their recent Europa League fixture.
You can understand, then, how 11-year-old Liam - a pupil at one of Manchester United Foundation's partner schools, Waterhead Academy - was left almost speechless during a surprise encounter with the big man.
Liam was invited to the club's Aon Training Complex in the belief that he going to collect a prize on behalf of his school, but instead bumped into his hero, who presented him with a signed jersey. It's a lovely little moment, which you can watch it below.
Zlatan seems like an absolute champ, there, in fairness, and it's certainly a definitive Christmas memory for his young understudy (although Liam does indicate he prefers a central defensive role).
Liam later said of the experience:
I give loads of thanks to United and I'm just going to keep going, keep working hard, pushing myself to all the limits and one day I could become a footballer.
Fair play to him!
[Manchester United Foundation]
