It’s early days... but Zlatan looks like the new God of Old Trafford
THERE was a time when we made fun of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, unable to decide whether he was a show pony or a flat-track bully.
He could not score against English teams – apart from Arsenal, and everyone scores against Arsenal.
A lack of goals in his encounters with Premier League clubs was the sole reason so many English observers considered him over-rated.
Sometimes, our insularity is breathtaking.
He changed a few minds with a four-goal mockery of the national team in late 2012, but doubters remained.
“You’re just a s*** Andy Carroll,” England fans sang before that match and there might be some who still believe that.
His outstanding scoring record in France – in a competition from which Premier League clubs buy plenty of players – has been sneered at. It is a one-team league, etc.
France, though, has been just one port of call for Ibrahimovic. What you see in Zlatan is a player and a character created and honed by different experiences, different footballing cultures, different challenges.
Sweden, Holland, Italy, Spain, France . . . now England.
It is the sort of path rarely y trodden by an Englishman. When Sam Allardyce selects his first st England squad, it will be drawn entirely from the Premier League, only one or two with the slightest experience of having played for a club beyond d these shores, of having to meet different demands.
Holding your own, thriving in different leagues can only give you a swagger – just ask Jose Mourinho.
It’s only been against Bournemouth and Southampton, but few are going to swagger quite like Zlatan this season.
There is much than swagger, though. There is no doubt Ibrahimovic has that single- mindedness, that selfishness, that has defined a few great players at Old Trafford – Cristiano Ronaldo and Eric Cantona, to name two. Do you think he was bothered that Anthony Martial might be miffed at having the No.9 jersey taken away from him? Not one jot. An And do we really buy into the id idea that Wayne Rooney is h happy to defer to Zlatan w when it comes to penalty-taking duties? This is record-chasing W Wayne Rooney we are on ab about. He might be selfless, but he is never going to turn down easy goals. More likely is: a) Ibrahimovic insisted on it, or... b) Mourinho looked at Rooney’s penalty record and favoured Zlatan. Ibrahimovic has an 88.2 per cent success rate, Rooney’s is 78.6 per cent. Penalty-taking might not be the only area in which Rooney has to play second fiddle. There was something almost symbolic about the camera shot of the pair hugging after Ibrahimovic’s header against Southampton. Zlatan towered over his captain. He gives his skipper four years, but nothing in fitness.
Ibrahimovic turns 35 in six weeks’ time, but there is nothing to suggest he will not, as Mourinho suggests, be fit and effective for the next two years.
And as early as it is – and as good as his header was, Southampton’s defending for it was rancid – you get the feeling Zlatan is going to be the talisman Mourinho is going to build his team around.
Why wouldn’t he be? He has won league titles in 12 of his last 13 seasons.
Goals in routine victories over Bournemouth and Southampton are no guarantee of season-long stardom.
Neither do they guarantee Zlatan will become the ‘God of Old Trafford’ – as he promised Cantona (left).
But on the brief evidence of his Manchester United career – and on the sweeping evidence of his 18-year career – you wouldn’t back against it.