Ibrahimovic has been linked with a move away from PSG this summer, but reports claim he will wait until his contract expires next year.
But Scholes believes United should make a move for the highly-rated Sweden captain.
“Centre-forward is a priority because there doesn’t look like there’s enough goals in the team at the moment, from any position,” Scholes told BT Sport.
“You need more than one [striker]. They’ve got Chicharito and young James Wilson, who is a really good player, but last year he didn’t really take his chance when he had the chance to do it.
“They have lost two top centre-forwards in [Radamel] Falcao and Robin van Persie. Okay, so Falcao wasn’t great while he was here, but he has been a top centre-forward, so they need something else.
“I wonder if they could take a chance on Ibrahimovic for a year. Maybe he could do something in the Van Persie mould. I don’t care whether he gets on with Van Gaal or not, as long as he scores goals.
“I don’t think they need much else. They have good players on the bench, but they need a centre-forward.”
