It’s very well documented, the frosty relationship between Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic and former United Manager Louis van Gaal. Today however we learned that the presence of Van Gaal potentially kept Ibra from coming to Old Trafford a year earlier than he actually did.
Also, it was the arrival of Jose Mourinho, as LVG’s replacement, which sealed the deal for Ibrahimovic to move over from Paris Saint-Germain.
Ibrahimovic said: “There were talks about me coming to United one year ago, that is correct. But I didn’t believe in it then because it was not the right moment.
“Then they get the Special One and, when the Special One calls you and when he starts to talk to you, you are already convinced. He didn’t need to talk a lot to convince me.
“It was only enough to call me and say, ‘Listen, I’m waiting for you in Manchester,’ and I was coming.”
Jose Mourinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic won a La Liga title together in 2008-09 when both were at Inter Milan. The larger than life Swedish superstar got off to a really hot start upon his arrival at the Theatre of Dreams. Would he have been as productive right off the bat if Van Gaal were still charge? Who knows, we can only speculate.
It does seem that both Van Gaal and Ibrahimovic have too large an ego to accommodate one another these days. At least that’s how it looks from an outside point of view.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, currently contributes regularly to the Chicago Tribune’s RedEye publication andBold Global.
He also consistently appears on numerous radio and television talk shows all across the country. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram and Sound Cloud.