Zlatan Ibrahimovic 'could be Wayne Rooney's opponent' according to boxing legend

Wayne Rooney's opponent in the boxing ring could be his former Manchester United team-mate Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Rooney has refused to rule out taking part in a high-profile bout overseen by KSI's Misfits Boxing.

Analyst and former boxer Paulie Malignaggi believes Ibrahimovic could be the surprise opponent if Rooney steps into the ring.

Rooney and Ibrahimovic spent one season together at Old Trafford in 2016-17 before Rooney returned to Everton.

After being sacked as Birmingham manager in January, Rooney is eager to get another coaching job. Ibrahimovic, meanwhile, retired from playing last year.

Malignaggi claimed that a bout between Rooney and Ibrahimovic 'would break all pay-per-view records'.

Malignaggi told Lord Ping: 'Rooney should go down the Jake Paul route, you've got to fight another footballer or NBA guy, or a rugby guy. Start with that,' Malignaggi told Lord Ping .

'Jake Paul started with retired NBA guys, so I don't think Wayne goes right into a fight with a real fighter. Go with another well-known athlete.

'If we're going to do another footballer, make Rooney versus Ibrahimovic. That fight would break all pay-per-view records, that would easily do a million buys. Easy.

'Think about the promotion, the video clips of the two being physical on the football field, you could sell them as fighters in that way. Wayne and Zlatan is the one I want to see.'

Promoter Kalle Sauerland confirmed that talks have taken place with Rooney over a potential fight.

Sauerland told talkSPORT: 'The discussion was, 'do you want to have a fight?' The reply was, 'not quite sure yet, I'm looking at the management side of things.'

'That would have been just after the Birimingham stuff. You look at Wayne and think, of anyone that could have a tear up who has been a footballer, you'd look at Wayne.

'I was travelling when the story broke, and we'd been in talks with some of his representatives since December. So it wasn't fresh for me.'

Although his main focus is on getting back into football, Rooney admitted that it was a possibility that he could be involved in a boxing match.

Asked by Gary Neville on the Stick to Football Podcast if he would turn to boxing, Rooney said: 'They've been in touch and asked the question but I think at the minute, I want to focus on getting back into management, not boxing.

'They've been in touch to fight, yeah. There's been a few and obviously that Misfits have been in [touch] and that's been all over the news.'

Commenting further on his potential involvement in boxing, Rooney said: 'Listen, I want to focus on getting back into management. That's my focus. And I've seen all over the last couple of days all the headlines but my main focus is getting back in to football.'