Manchester, welcome to Zlatan - The Zlatan Ibrahimović Thread

There's a difference between signing a highly-touted player who simply doesn't pan out, as was the case with the players you mentioned, and signing a 36 year old who would spend preseason rehabbing after an ACL injury.

There's also a bit of a difference between signing an established Serie A elite player, in the knowledge that you already have Paul Scholes and Roy Keane in-house, as well as the ability to simply go out and sign a replacement, versus the LAG situation where the player takes up one of three slots that aren't restricted to a specific salary.

Ibra will obviously command DP money and as I said before, if he gets signed and like many older high-profile players before him, doesn't recover to his pre-injury level and/or finds the travel and turf playing up with his knees, then we're stuck.

The situation will require giving him time to get over the injury: initial form might be down to that, so you have the dilemma of persevering into the second half of the season to determine if this is just recovery or his new level, or cutting him at the halfway point in the hope a replacement can be found.

In either case, the Galaxy will likely be obliged to play his enormous salary for the duration of the full season regardless. So there's a hell of a lot more riding on it than there was on Veron's signing.

Congrats on beating RSL's reserves. Honestly, I wish certain MLS clubs (LAG included) would take that competition seriously.

 

Absolutely. The case history of 36 year old athletes returning to anything close to peak form after an ACL rupture is not encouraging. If you want to place a safe bet, place a bet that Ibra will never score a goal in the EPL ever again.

Then again, Ibra is not an ordinary professional athlete, is he? Don't put any money on that bet that you can't afford to lose.

As for LA Galaxy, I just don't think it makes sense either for the club or Ibra for him to join the club. Cash really isn't the problem, given how the league is legally/financially structured, but from Ibra's point of view there's little to be gained in winning an MLS trophy. When he's done at the elite level, I suspect he'll pull a Cantona and be done with the game and not dial it down to a smaller or MLS club. And from LA Galaxy's point of view, Ibra may be better than Beckham as a footballer, but I doubt he'd be anything like the fan draw Becks was.

The unconquered territory for Ibra is the Champions League. He's won gobs of league trophies but no CL trophy. My best guess is that he's desperate to prove Teso and his ilk wrong, that he's still got something left at the highest level of club football. The only place he's realistically going to make that happen, if it's at all possible, is at Old Trafford. Right now he's a free agent but welcome to train at Carrington and Mourinho will have a chance to monitor his progress and decide accordingly in December.

Thanks re Sacramento Republic. RLS trotted out their Plan B team, but even so it was an unexpected evisceration of an MLS squad. Being a USL team, many of SRFC's players are new to the club every season and we saw that at the beginning of the season. But it was inspired performance even so, one that I'm sure Garber noticed.

 

I agree with most of this. The only point I'd expand on is the financial aspect of MLS and LA Galaxy.

While the league uses a single entity, investor/operator model, only certain expenses and revenues are shared. The salaries paid to DPs are for the most part, paid by the I/O. Unless Ibra wants to do an Ashley Cole and play for $300k a year, he's going to need that designation.

The thing is, it came to light in the closed season that AEG were exceedingly unhappy with the lack of success they got from the DPs in 2016. Gerrard of course, was a huge part of that. Frankly, that's music to my ears because it shows that the owners are intent on building a winning team and not - as has often been suggested - putting arses in seats. That was the one thing that Gerrard's signing did deliver on.

This just adds to the argument that the timing is wrong for bringing in Ibra.

 

It's hard to know how much in wages Ibra would demand if he were intent on coming to LA, but if he were intent on coming to LA I'm sure he'd find a way to make it work.

In any event, I just can't see Ibra being interested in coming to MLS. And least not in 2018 and probably not ever.

 

I could see him at Inter or Napoli possibly. Those are probably the only clubs that may be interested in him that could actually afford his wages.

 

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is back at Manchester United and vowing to be fit by November. (Source: Daily Star) pic.twitter.com/Ur52axJos8

— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) June 19, 2017

 

And this...

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/3830399/ibrahimovic-convinces-united-to-sign-ronaldo/

 

Napoli have Milik back from injury and Mertens after his form last season. They have no need to waste money on Ibrahimovic.

Inter have Icardi and others so also have no need unless things materially change.

I can understand the appeal of a Serie A return given his injury but Serie A is no longer the same league post-Chinese investment.

 

Excellent news !!

I reckon he will be even more effective this year !

 

"Zlatan Ibrahimovic has signed a 1yr contract extension

Zlatan Ibrahimovic, he is a Swedish fukcing hero"
​

 

See @Ibra_official's first interview after he penned a new #MUFC deal on Friday at 9:00 BST - subscribe to MUTV now! https://t.co/qXJK4wY1Ei pic.twitter.com/gGgnvYYjpt

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 24, 2017

 

New number. Same Zlatan. pic.twitter.com/CLcNSZGArs

— B/R Football (@brfootball) August 24, 2017

 

Zlatan’s taken things up a level ⏫ pic.twitter.com/KOOFAsjpAq

— B/R Football (@brfootball) August 24, 2017

 

I remember back in the 2004 bigsoccer days when everyone thought Zlatan was shit. The guy has had a long career.

 

Ibra's critics here do have a point that there's no guarantee that Zlatan will return to his pre-injury form. After all, it was a serious knee injury and he is in mid 30s now.

Then again, no new (or returning from injury) player is ever a guarantee.

But based on what we know of the Ibra who was by far our best outfield player last season, it really is safe to say that would be an outstanding addition to the squad. Lukaku has the pace Ibra never had, but he has nowhere the guile that Ibra has. Ibra has made a career out of making defenders look foolish. And not only does he score, his final ball is astonishing. Or at least was before he was felled last season. We shall see whether he can pick up where he left off.

This is a risk worth taking. If it doesn't work, the Glazers will be a bit poorer than they otherwise would have been. And it works, we may be looking at a EPL trophy celebration, amigos. Perhaps a CL trophy too, if we can also sort out lingering issues at the two fullback positions.

 

Behind the scenes with @Ibra_official... pic.twitter.com/bsufmZp4O8

— Manchester United (@ManUtd) August 24, 2017