The Premier League could be set to get that little bit livelier once again after Zlatan Ibrahimovic defied initial expectations and returned from the sidelines for Manchester United a fortnight ago.

It was thought that the recovery time for his cruciate knee ligament damage, picked up during the Europa League quarter-final win over Anderlecht in April, would leave him out of action until 2018.

Nonetheless, in typical Ibrahimovic style the 36-year-old returned to full fitness two months ahead of schedule and he made his first Premier League appearance of the season as a late substitute in the victory over Newcastle United, before following this up with another cameo role at the weekend.

With the infamous Swede now back in the fold, is it time to consider him for Draft Fantasy selection?

On balance, it is a tough one.

There’s certainly no doubting Ibrahimovic’s prowess in front of goal, and he showed that age is nothing but a number last season with 17 goals in just 28 Premier League games at the age of 35.

His track record at some of Europe’s biggest clubs (Ajax, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain) speaks for itself and there’s almost an inevitability around the fact that he will score for United this season.

But his role at Old Trafford for the remainder of the year looks set to be a supporting one, with the recent matches against the Magpies and Brighton & Hove Albion suggesting Romelu Lukaku is the number one striker.

In each of these outings Ibrahimovic was summoned by boss Jose Mourinho with around 20 minutes to play, with the Swede taking his customary striking role and Lukaku moving onto the wings.

Whilst his 43 minutes of football did not yield a goal he didn’t look like a man taking to the pitch for the first time in seven months, with one particular acrobatic effort against Newcastle forcing goalkeeper Rob Elliot into a smart near post save, and you sense he has a part to play if United are to be successful this season.

With the Premier League games set to come thick and fast with the festive period nearly upon us, United all-but guaranteed passage into the Champions League knock-out stages and both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup still in their sights, squad rotation will start to take shape in the near future.

It could easily become a theme that Lukaku plays at the weekend in the Premier League and the veteran Swede plays in midweek – but that’s all up in the air and Mourinho will have some thinking to do.

In terms of the short-term future it could be worth seeing how Ibrahimovic is blooded back into the fold at Old Trafford before opting for him – although history suggests he’ll be back in the goals before too long.