Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s signing for Manchester United is the final big European stop for a man who has found success in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and France. The questions surrounding his ability to succeed in the Premier League, while undoubtedly a media creation, still seem to fuel his desire to stay at the top of his game at 34 years of age.
At United, Ibrahimovic has teamed back up with manager Jose Mourinho, who he shared one special season with at Inter Milan. “The way Mourinho prepared for games was also new to me,” said Ibrahimovic. “I would get pumped up, believing the story he would feed us. I went through a lot of adrenaline when I played for him. It was like nothing was ever good enough.”
Ibrahimovic, for all the undoubted ability and his standing as a world-class footballer with nothing to prove, still seems to feed off the narratives surrounding him. When Manchester United meet Manchester City on Saturday, another narrative that’s followed him around since the publication of his memoir I Am Zlatan in 2011 will feature prominently.
One passage in particular explains Zlatan's contentious relationship with Guardiola:
“(Pep) was staring at me and I lost it. I thought ‘there is my enemy, scratching his bald head’. I yelled to him: ‘You have no balls!’ And probably worse things than that. I added: ‘You are s****ing yourself because of (then Inter manager Jose Mourinho, whose side beat Barca in the Champions League). You can go to hell!’ I was completely mad.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic 'Guardiola is not a man' https://t.co/mNV6IJlDRb via @YouTube
— HNH (@Catf1sh) August 29, 2016
While Ibrahimovic has labeled Guardiola “a spineless coward”, he’s also called Mourinho “a mastermind” and “a guy I was basically willing to die for”. He’s also compared the two managers by saying, “Mourinho is Guardiola’s opposite. If Mourinho brightens up the room, Guardiola pulls down the curtains.”
Here are the two remaining unclosed narratives in Ibrahimovic’s career, transpiring simultaneously. On the one hand, it’s Ibrahimovic’s intense desire to transform the fortunes of Manchester United and add a successful stint in England to his resume.
On the other, it’s the ability to have the last word concerning his time with Barca and Guardiola, to ensure that Guardiola is s**** himself again when tasked with playing Mourinho. While the numbers and honors Ibrahimovic won with Barcelona paint a brief image of success, there’s still a lingering fascination with Guardiola’s reluctance to trust in Ibrahimovic.
With Guardiola’s Manchester City project still heavily in transition, particularly in defense, one can’t help but feel that the stars have perfectly aligned for Ibrahimovic to write another chapter in his illustrious career on Saturday at Old Trafford.
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