"I think talent is about 30 per cent and then the rest is hard work," he told the Aspetar Sports Medicine Journal. "You see the opportunity of somebody with talent, but if you don't work hard, this talent is a waste of time."
He has brought with him a personal physio from PSG, Dario Fort, who has drawn out a unique fitness plan in order to help Zlatan maintain his shape. The former Sweden captain also enjoys a close relationship with national-team doctor Rickard Dahan and has been seen to travel regularly to his clinic in his hometown of Malmo. The marksman has previously said that he likes to consider club doctors and physicians as friends, first and foremost, as they are the ones who are always looking out for players' health.
He is attentive to his diet, like all top players, and has altered his eating habits throughout his career. Where once he might have eaten anything he liked at Ajax in the early days, he now puts only the optimum fuel in his body. He loves Italian food but won't eat too much of it due to its calorie content. He even went as far as forcing PSG to remove two chefs from their Camp de Loges training centre in 2014 and having them replaced in order to better tailor his intake.
The adaptation process has also extended to his warm-up. Zlatan has admitted being bored by the repetitive exercises and has, in the past, only done them to perhaps 50 per cent of the expected intensity. He is no longer a young man, however, and now pays particular attention to what needs to be done before matches.
"I think when you're 15 to 20 years old then it’s easy to skip the warm-up but as you get older, you have to work more to feel better," he said. "I am in that phase now - I have to work hard and warm up to feel good."
While preparing for his debut for United, he posted a series of photos on his Instagram account showing him working out during the off-season. When he arrived at Carrington for his medical, he broke power records. The man with a black belt in taekwondo is obsessed with the drive for perfection.
Those habits, Mourinho hopes, will rub off on the junior players in the United ranks. Zlatan may be keeping teenage sensation Marcus Rashford out of the team but reports emerged this week claiming he is staying behind after training and conducting clinics with the local lad, as well as fellow forward Anthony Martial.
Having worked with players like Gianluigi Buffon, Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Del Piero, Patrick Vieira and Lilian Thuram at Juventus alone, he knows what it takes for young players to achieve their potential in the presence of the truly great. At this stage of his career - when he feels more responsible in the team - he is ready to give back.
"I have my responsibility to the team," he said on Friday after his two goals against Southampton. "The coach gives me a lot of responsibility and I take it. I am just myself. I am trying to help all the other ones."
The United players are looking to him - and not necessarily captain Wayne Rooney - for inspiration and example as they embark on a serious Premier League title quest for the first time since Sir Alex Ferguson left.