Lindelof reveals there was no bad blood with Mourinho

So, it turns out Jose Mourinho may have been wrong. He wanted a new defender at Manchester United but it appears the one he needed was there all along.

Victor Lindelof sits at United's training ground. A No 2 on his training top suggests permanence, one of the first names on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's team sheet.

He is 24 and, despite his defender's frame, still boyish in the face, but he has lived a man's life for as long as he can remember. Helping his mother in her difficult days as a single parent in Sweden, leaving home for Benfica at 17.

Maybe we shouldn't be surprised then that when they said he was not good enough for United, Lindelof didn't worry. When Mourinho said he needed new defenders, the Swede told himself to try harder. When the TV pundits weighed in after a dismal defeat at Brighton in August, he knew he had overcome greater challenges in life.

Now, as United surge forwards on Solskjaer's watch, Lindelof is at the heart of it. Solskjaer has overseen 15 games since replacing Mourinho in December and the defender has started 13 of them.

'When he came I just wanted to show him my ability and maybe I have done that,' Lindelof told Sportsmail this week. 'He has picked me and now I have rhythm. I have been waiting for this.

'When you play badly and concede goals defenders get criticised. Some people like you, some don't and that's never been a problem for me. I know people talked about me but I didn't let it affect me.

'Nobody will criticise me more than myself. So people can talk and it's fine. And it's nice to change people's opinions.'

United's next game after the defeat by Brighton was at home to Tottenham. Lindelof came off the bench in a 3-0 defeat and played a back pass straight to an opponent, leaving his future looking bleak.

Back then, was it really easy to ignore all the noise, especially with his manager bemoaning his lack of defensive alternatives?

'Look, I will be always grateful to Jose,' said Lindelof. 'He bought me. I have nothing bad to say about him. When he wanted to buy other defenders, it was OK. I like the competition. You don't improve without it.

'I am lucky. I am mentally strong and can shut it all out. You want things to go well at a new club but life isn't that easy. So if you play badly you have to work more.'

Partly because of his form at last summer's World Cup, Lindelof was voted the best Swedish player of 2018 and he is humbled by it. Growing up, he wasn't even the best player in his group of friends in the Swedish city of Vasteras. That was Linus Sjoberg, a midfielder eventually handed a trial by United at the age of 15.

Now, almost a decade on, Sjoberg — best man at Lindelof's wedding to Maja last year — is recovering from the latest in a series of ruinous injuries and playing in the Swedish second division.

'He was the best in Sweden,' sighed Lindelof with clear sadness. 'We played together from the age of six, but he has had surgery on his knee three times, his foot two times and then last week he got injured again. I have helped with a physio.

'It makes me wake up every day and be grateful for the opportunity to represent this club. I will never take it for granted after what happened to Linus.'

In Sweden, they still talk of another player, of course, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic continues to talk back. Ibrahimovic was still at United when Lindelof arrived and recently offered some typically confident views on the defender.

'He had a difficult time at United at the beginning,' said Ibrahimovic. 'It is typically Swedish to arrive and be friendly to everyone. I told him, "You're here to survive, not to be friendly. So you need to perform". He has been doing good lately. I don't think it's a question of ability, it's in the head.'

Listening to his former team-mate's words, Lindelof looks a little baffled. 'He did talk to me but didn't say exactly that,' he smiled. 'But he likes to give good quotes, doesn't he? Yeah I am Swedish and a nice person. There is nothing wrong with that. I like to treat people with respect. That's how I was raised.

'On the pitch, yeah, maybe I could have been a bit more myself at the start. But in the beginning, the way I am off the pitch I like to be more quiet and see what kind of people I am with and then make judgment. But Zlatan and I get on well because we can both have opinions. It's good.'

Born on the day of the 1994 World Cup final, it was a stellar year for Swedish football as the national team finished third in America. Lindelof's father, so the story goes, asked if he could put the match on the TV within seconds of young Victor being delivered.

The marriage didn't last and the relationships that were to matter to Victor were with his mother Ulrica — whose image is tattooed on his right forearm — and brothers Sebasthian, Alexander and 15-year-old Sacharias.

As a kid, Lindelof would tear around the streets with his football, pretending first to be Zinedine Zidane and then, strangely for a youngster with dreams of scoring goals for Sweden, former United goalkeeper Fabian Barthez.

With dreams of a World Cup final, he could also have chosen ice hockey as a career, but at the age of 14, he made his decision and it was football.

'I dreamed about being one of the top players and asked myself if I could get to the next level,' he recalled. 'At that age, I was better at ice hockey so it was a tough decision, but football was closest to my heart. From that point, I decided I would make it happen.'

Earlier, Lindelof was a No 10 and took a mean free-kick. He still does, in training at least. 'There is a big queue for those here at United,' he laughed. 'But I take them in training and they go in! Maybe I will get my chance.

'In my head I am still a No 10. In training I think, "Oh no, more defending", but that is my job now and that is good.'

Benfica called when Lindelof was a boy and that was to be pivotal. He won two league titles in Portugal and played in the Champions League. But they were tough, definitive years early on.

The first six months were spent in a single room at Benfica's training ground — a tiny, uncomfortable bed with a red duvet cover and a concrete balcony overlooking the pitches. On the first night he spoke to his mother and suggested he just came home.

'I couldn't communicate with the players and it was lonely,' he recalled. 'But I spoke with my big brother and he said this is what I had worked for almost my whole life. He told me things would turn round.

'Every day I woke up, had breakfast, training, lunch and then it was back to my room to watch repeats of (American drama) Entourage and speak to friends and family. I look back now and realise it helped me deal with things I face.

'It's important for young players to know just because you have signed a contract with a big club it doesn't automatically mean everything will immediately be good. You have to be prepared for the tough parts and I think I was.'

One peculiarity about Lindelof's career is that he didn't start playing regularly for Benfica until January 2016. Prior to that he played largely for the reserves, which meant by the time United paid £30m for him in 2017, he had been playing first-team football less than 18 months.

So, it's not a surprise his early days at Old Trafford were mixed. In Sweden, he is known for his self-confidence. In conversation, he is not brash but assured. The media at home call him Iceman, while one commentator observed he has 'been 30 all his life'.

'I always trusted myself and believed in my dreams,' said Lindelof. 'I never had a Plan B. Plan A was to become a footballer and I worked very hard for it.

'I was raised by a single mother, so had to take a lot of responsibilities. Maybe that helped. Our mother gave us a lot of love also and I think that's why I am confident in myself.

'I signed here for a lot of money, so people want you to perform immediately. They don't see other stuff. That's the way it is in the game but I know who I am and I'm comfortable with that and with my abilities. I worked hard to get here and this is just the start.'

If Lindelof has always been happy in his own skin, the same cannot be said for this United team. Prior to Solskjaer, they looked scared and unable to look good sides in the eye. That has changed.

'Yeah, I understand what you mean, the way it maybe looked before,' he nodded. 'When teams come to Old Trafford, we must dominate. We are Manchester United and no one is bigger than us. We must have that mentality.

'We have won a lot of games now against big teams and are on a good path. We have to stay on it.'

So to the obvious question. Given the startling volte face in United's season, what has Solskjaer — a rookie big-club manager — done and how has he done it?

'It's difficult to answer,' said Lindelof. 'He came in with this energy. Listening to his thoughts about football is an inspiration.

'Right from the start he came in with a smile. He explained what it means to play here, that was the first thing he said. I can't find the perfect word in English but he brought a presence. Ole has just made us think and made us trust our abilities again.'

For Lindelof, there has never been much self-doubt. The Iceman cometh, even if it took a while.