Mourinho sends powerful message to Lukaku ahead of Sunday’s game against Everton

Jose Mourinho and Romelu Lukaku

Jose Mourinho has confirmed Romelu Lukaku WILL start against Everton on Sunday.

The misfiring Manchester United striker is without a goal in eight games and reports suggested he was set to be dropped for the visit of the Toffees.

However, Mourinho will stick with the big Belgian as Alexis Sanchez is still injured and he prefers to use Marcus Rashford out wide.

He said: “Well against Juventus , I couldn’t give him a break, I don’t think Carrick can play as a striker, so against Juventus we played with the players that we did.

“If we decided to give a rest to Lukaku and play Rashford, then who plays as a winger?

“We are not in the best moment to try to think about resting players or try to find solutions, the solutions is to use the players we have.”

Lukaku is enduring an eight-game goalscoring drought and Mourinho insists it is only a matter of time before he hits form again.

“I always feel that, I always feel that every game,” said the United boss. “One day will be the game and one day he will score and one day his confidence levels will be back to normal, which clearly they are not, but I always feel that.”

Meanwhile, Mourinho has ruled out a return for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, despite their goalscoring problems.

The Special One has been linked with bringing back Ibrahimovic, who has successfully rehabilitated himself at LA Galaxy, but he insists the Swedish star will not be coming back to Old Trafford.

When asked if he would re-sign Ibrahimovic, Mourinho said: “No, no.”