Club upbeat that Zlatan will stay on
THERE is optimism at Manchester United that Zlatan Ibrahimovic will still be at Old Trafford next season even though the Swede so far refuses to give assurances.
Ibrahimovic has been a huge success since arriving on a free transfer last summer and took his total to 26 goals when he scored twice at Wembley on Sunday as Jose Mourinho’s United beat Southampton 3-2 in the EFL Cup final.
United want to activate the 12-month option on Ibrahimovic’s £260,000-a-week contract and are said to be confident even though he appears to be in no hurry.
Sources close to the 35-year- old striker say he has turned down offers from China worth £1million-aweek to stay at a more competitive level in the Premier League.
Ibrahimovic and his team-mates were given two days off after their EFL Cup win but as he left Wembley he insisted that he has no desire to play in another country or for another manager, rejecting talk that he wants guaranteed Champions League football before he commits.
‘No, it’s not about that,’ he said. ‘I came here and the club wasn’t in the Champions League. So it had nothing to do with that.
‘Let’s see what happens ... we have another two months of the season to go... because according to many I could not do what I’ve been doing.’
Mourinho has urged United fans to camp outside the player’s house to persuade him to stay but agent Mino Raiola was also coy and said Ibrahimovic is now concentrating on winning the FA Cup and Europa League.
‘That’s something between the player, the club and myself,’ Raiola told talkSPORT yesterday.
‘We should just enjoy the moment and we’ll see what happens. This (the EFL Cup) was very important and very emotional for him, for me and for Mourinho too. So let’s just try to give the fans some more cups.’
Ibrahimovic revealed that it was not his original intention to join United when he left Paris Saint-Germain last summer. However, a call from his old Inter Milan boss Mourinho and persuasion from sons Maximilian, 10, and Vincent, eight, convinced him.
‘I didn’t come to England before because it was not the moment,’ he said. ‘ The club has to thank ( Mourinho) because he asked me, otherwise I wouldn’t have been here.
‘I had my mind somewhere else. Then Jose called. I have a special relationship with him. When he called it was basically, “Tell me what number I should wear”. Even my two kids wanted to see me play at United. My mind was not here. Then my kids started to bump my head and Jose called, then I am here.’
Asked if his sons would influence his next move, Ibrahimovic said: ‘They are satisfied but this time I am the boss, not them.’
The former Barcelona, Juventus and Ajax star insists that he will quit before his powers wane, but claims that he still feels like ‘a lion’.
‘I will stop on top,’ he said. ‘I will not play one game by being Ibrahimovic and for what I did before. If I don’t perform, if I don’t bring results, I will not play.
‘I will not be like others, still playing because they are who they are. I was not worried about age because I know what I am able to do.
‘I came when people thought it was impossible for me to do what I am able to do. I am enjoying it. I’m an animal. I feel like a lion.
‘This is my 32nd trophy. I’ve been in five different countries, in the best clubs in the world. This is another chapter.’