As Manchester United mourned the loss of their top scorer, those in Major League Soccer were contemplating what it meant for themThe sight of a player suffering suffering a season-ending injury is always a desperate one, particularly when the player in question is of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s quality. Indeed, the Swede will take no further part in the 2016-17 campaign, picking up a cruciate knee ligament injury that could sideline him until 2018. But as Manchester United mourned the loss of their top scorer, those in Major League Soccer were contemplating what it meant for them.Ibrahimovic has been heavily linked with a move Stateside, with recent reports claiming Los Angeles FC have offered the striker a deal worth $6.4m a year...
Zlatan Ibrahimovic makes chances out of nothing which covers up his team’s lack of creativity, but Mourinho could help his striker with braver team selectionThroughout Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s long, varied career across eight different clubs in six separate countries, his teams have consistently benefited from his genius while also suffering from so-called Ibra-dependence. The Swede is so consistently brilliant, and conjures up moments of magic from seemingly unthreatening situations, that his teams become reliant on him to a staggering extent.Manchester United’s dependence is hardly an overnight development considering his sensational first Premier League campaign – he has now scored 17 and assisted five of Manchester United’s 46 goals – but his opener against Sunderland was a perfect demonstration of how he...
José Mourinho may follow Tottenham’s lead and reinforce Manchester United’s defence in FA Cup sixth-round tie to counter the loss of his No1 strikerEvents this season are not quite going as José Mourinho has told them to. There is a possibility, of course, that he was being sincere in his praise of Zlatan Ibrahimovic after the EFL Cup final and that he had no ulterior motive in telling Manchester United fans to camp at his Swedish striker’s house until he signed a new contract, but it would go so against the grain of the past 15 years of public utterances that have either been emotional outbursts or calculating manipulations that there is little point detaining ourselves any further with the...
The manager known for his ruthlessness and finishing first is too reliant on Zlatan Ibrahimovic and the result is a regular failure to beat supposedly inferior teamsJosé Mourinho used to be defined by an extraordinary home record. In one respect, he still is. The difference is that it is now a subject of regret and recrimination. Related: Manchester United’s top-four push stalls in chaotic draw with Bournemouth Continue reading...
Ibrahimovic won the EFL Cup for Manchester United at Wembley yet unlike Eric Cantona 25 years ago is not the final piece in the jigsaw of an emerging sideWatching Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s fine, bloody-minded match-winning turn for Manchester United in the EFL Cup final it was hard not to reach back in time for comparisons. Rewind to the early 1990s and English football’s restless north-western superpower needed fresh blood, a point of attacking inspiration to energise an emerging team. A new striker was signed to add stardust up front. History shows it worked, too. Dean Saunders scored 23 goals as Liverpool won the FA Cup in 1992.Saunders left after one season – as Ibrahimovic still might – and went to Aston...