It is a great shame Manchester United didn’t sign Zlatan Ibrahimovic a couple of years earlier but there is no way he would have picked up the phone to either David Moyes or Louis van Gaal.
One a below average manager, the other an enemy.
At the age of 35 it was amazing to watch him revelling in confounding his critics and terrorising defences. For me, Ibrahimovic is the greatest signing United have made post Sir Alex Ferguson and a free transfer at that.
Without further ado, here are some things United fans will cherish as he moves to LA Galaxy:
Winning goal in the League Cup final
Zlatan Ibrahimovic had great moments in the Premier League and Europa League, but arguably his best was in the League Cup. He scored both goals against Southampton in the final – the first being a carefully placed free-kick – but the second goal, a late winner, epitomised Ibrahimovic’s spell at Manchester United. The goal started with Ibrahimovic heading clear a corner, beginning a counter-attack and beautifully converting a header past Fraser Forster.
The Swede went on to win the man of the match award, which was thoroughly deserved, and this proved Ibrahimovic was Jose Mourinho’s own catalyst in his first season at United. A leader through and through.
Great chant
It wasn’t long before United fans had a chant for this superhuman. “Zlatan Ibrahimovic, he is a Swedish hero. On a free from PSG, he cost us f*cking zero. 6 foot 5; hard as f*ck, he gets the Reds excited. Stick your City up you’re a**e, ‘Cos we are Man United…”
The chant fitted someone of Ibrahimovic’s ilk. It goes without saying he is one of the most famous, charismatic footballers on earth.
Showed Mings why it’s a bad idea to enter a cage with a Lion
Remember, folks: “Lions, they don’t compare themselves to humans.”
Tyrone Mings was foolish enough to attempt a stamp on Ibrahimovic’s head when Bournemouth came to Old Trafford last season. The game ended 1-1 but that escaped the headlines. After Mings’ deliberate stamp, the Swede left a mark of his own.
Following the game, Ibrahimovic brilliantly claimed Mings jumped “into my elbow.” That’s part of the character we loved as United fans. Of course, it was thug like behaviour but football has lost a lot of its grit. It drives you mad when your player is on the receiving end of it, but wrongly or rightly fills you with drive when it’s one of your own getting stuck in.
Celebrating the Europa League on crutches
Ibrahimovic is without question a loose cannon and he wasn’t going to let a knee injury prevent him from enjoying Europa League celebrations.
Fresh from surgery on the anterior cruciate ligament he picked up a month previous, Ibrahimovic arrived in style ahead of United’s final game of the season, against Ajax in Stockholm.
No limp or crutch or surgery scar was going to stop Ibrahimovic from celebrating the win as he promptly parted ways with the pair of crutches that supported him when the full-time whistle was blown.
We loved his mad streak.
Doubters left silenced
The hype was real from the start. Ibrahimovic came out of the blocks firing as he showed the audacity to try, never mind score a bicycle kick on his debut, albeit a pre-season friendly, against AS Roma. He followed that up by scoring against Leicester City in the Community Shield and delivered again on his first Premier League outing Bournemouth. At 35, people were quick to write him off suggesting he’s too old to hack top flight football in England but time and time again Ibrahimovic proved doubters wrong.
