Former Liverpool star Michael Owen believes Manchester United would be making a mistake if they signed Antoine Griezmann from Atletico Madrid.

Owen, now a pundit at BT Sports, is inclined to hand over Zlatan Ibrahimovic's mantle as United's number nine to young England international Marcus Rashford.

"I think Griezmann is a brilliant player, obviously he is brilliant," Owen told Goal. "What Manchester United must weigh up is, do you spend that £80 million when you have Rashford?

"All of a sudden, for him, you are not sending a great message to pick someone straight ahead of him. At the moment it is perfect for Rashford, because you know you have got Zlatan ahead of him but you haven't got Zlatan there forever.

"If Zlatan signs a new contract, take his injury out of the equation, all of a sudden it is heaven for Rashford. Perfect for him. He can naturally become the centre-forward over time and then another year, Zlatan will be thinking of retiring. It is a natural progression.

"Rashford needs Jose to give him the ultimate belief and say 'right you are going to be my man, you are going to be it'. If he doesn't think that just yet then the last thing he needs is for Jose to buy someone who will be there for the long term.

"You just need someone there who has done what Zlatan has done this year. It is so hard to balance for Jose to install that belief in Rashford."