This article is part of Football FanCast's Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news...

According to Sky Sports, Manchester United "will not be pursuing" a move for former star Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the upcoming January transfer window.

What's the word?

The Swede's first spell at Old Trafford was a very successful one, with the 38-year-old scoring 29 times and providing a further 10 assists in 53 games across all competitions.

The veteran opened the door to a potential return to the club earlier this season, but according to Sky Sports, it appears that may not turn out to be the case. The report claims that whilst Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side are keen to "bolster" their options up front, they will not be targeting a move for Ibrahimovic when the winter window opens up in a couple of months time.

The perfect stop-gap

Whilst it is understandable that the Red Devils are perhaps focused on building for the future, a mid-season swoop for Ibrahimovic makes sense on so many levels. The forward already knows the club inside out from his time at Old Trafford before, and at 38, would surely be content with playing sporadically.

His gravitas and charismatic style would also be a major lift to the United dressing room, whilst his goal-scoring pedigree would be something the likes of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood could really learn from. His incredibly long and successful career has seen him win countless trophies, including league titles in France, Italy and Spain - the kind of knowledge and know-how that would be like stardust to United's young forward.

Additionally, luring big-money targets in January is always difficult with clubs unwilling to lose them when they may have something to fight for, so a move for Ibrahimovic would allow them to have a bona-fide star for half a season before making an attempt to sign a striker much higher up on their short-list in the summer.

The Red Devils' reported reluctance to bring the Swede back to Manchester smacks of sheer narrow mindedness.