Ibrahimovic will dance to his own tune
Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Manchester United. One final box ticked for one of the modern greats, a move to the Barclays Premier League.
|||The big European football festival may be carrying on without him in France but Zlatan Ibrahimovic continues to write his own headlines.
With one simple sentence on his Instagram page yesterday the Swede announced his imminent arrival at Manchester United. It said simply: #iamcoming
Ibrahimovic to Manchester United. One final box ticked for one of the modern greats, a move to the Barclays Premier League.
Another enormous investment for a club that cannot afford to miss out on the Champions League places once again next season.
Whether this move will one day be regarded with the same respect as those that brought Eric Cantona and Ruud van Nistelrooy to Old Trafford, or filed in a grubby folder along with the names of Juan Sebastian Veron and Radamel Falcao, remains to be seen.
What we do know is that Ibrahimovic’s year in England will not be dull. He has already started the way he will intend to go on, beating United to the announcement of the deal. Word from inside Old Trafford was that they were ‘relaxed’ about that. Frankly, they were left with no choice.
This is how it will be. Ibrahimovic will move to his own tune, set his own agenda and, as such, it will be impossible to take your eyes of him. He will do things his own way and, with his ally Jose Mourinho as his manager, he will probably be allowed to.
This is a telling transfer, though.
It speaks of the enormous amount of money pouring through the English game. Clubs such as United can afford to sign players like this knowing that if they don’t work they are unlikely to panic their shareholders too much.
It also speaks to the mild sense of desperation that has hung over England’s most successful club since they were forced to cut loose their second manager, Louis van Gaal, in three awful seasons.
It is worth recalling United’s rhetoric when handing David Moyes a six-year contract after Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013. United, then league champions, would always work with both eyes fixed firmly on the long term. No short-term fixes. Now here they are investing upwards of £1m-a-month in wages in a 34-year-old who, despite his box office appeal, is undoubtedly past his best.
And this after having their fingers burned by the catastrophic loan signing of Falcao two summers ago.
Some have made comparisons with Cantona, but the Frenchman was 26 when he arrived from Leeds, a dissatisfied, hungry talent with everything to prove.
Ibrahimovic is a player in his mid-30s who feels he has nothing at all to prove.
United will only hope that his arrival will have the same galvanising effect on the dressing room that Cantona did in the mid-90s. Certainly, Ibrahimovic will give Mourinho an onfield focal point.
United have not had one since Robin van Persie’s form fell off a cliff and the years began catching up with Wayne Rooney.
Concluding this deal may also help United’s pursuit of Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba. The two players have the same agent.
Mourinho, knows Ibrahimovic well from their time together at Inter Milan. He will believe that he can squeeze the last drops of vintage Zlatan from his second United signing. He will also have recognised that he has a dressing room short of players of real presence and character.
Zlatan helps address that issue as the re-signing of Didier Drogba did at Chelsea in 2014.
What not even Mourinho will know is how well Ibrahimovic will cope with the Premier League. He will need his man to hit the ground running.
Ibrahimovic’s record for his last club, PSG, was extraordinary. He averaged almost a goal a game in the French league. Here he will find life more competitive, but that may be part of the challenge.
For him, this is a no-lose transfer to tack on to the end of his eclectic career. For United, it is a deal that comes with risk attached. It will either work or it won’t. There are unlikely to be any shades of grey. – Daily Mail