Zlatan turns down Arsenal because manager insists on a trial

LONDON: Zlatan Ibrahimovic turned down the chance to move to Arsenal because boss Arsene Wenger wanted the Sweden striker to go through a trial.

The AC Milan player was a teenager when he met up with Wenger in 2000 to discuss a possible move to north London.

Ibrahimovic, 30, said: “Arsene gave me the famous red and white jersey – the No. 9 shirt with Ibrahimovic on it and I was so pleased I even posed for a picture wearing it.

“It was a fantastic moment for me. Arsenal had a great team then and here was an Arsenal shirt made just for me.

“So then I waited for him to convince me that I should join Arsenal. But he didn’t even try.

“He never actually made me a serious offer, it was more, ‘I want to see how good you are, what kind of player you are. Have a trial’.

“I couldn’t believe it. I was like, “No way, Zlatan doesn’t do auditions”.

“I thought “You either know me or you don’t and if you don’t know me you can’t really want me.

“You see, even back then I had great faith in myself, even though I was still young.

“I’m sure that some other young players might have agreed to try out because this was the famous Arsenal team and this was Arsene Wenger.

“But I knew it wasn’t just Arsenal who wanted me – Roma wanted me and Ajax wanted me.

“So I said “No” and, in the end, I signed for Ajax instead. It was the perfect choice.”

Ibrahimovic instead chose to join Ajax, where he began a run of eight consecutive league crowns, a streak that took in spells at Juventus – where two titles were later revoked because of the calciopoli scandal – Inter, Barcelona and now AC Milan. — The Sun, London