Why Zlatan Ibrahimovic might be just what the Serie A needs
Some call him the ultimate journeyman. Some call him arrogant with nothing to show despite more trophies than a few clubs. Some call him nothing more than the right man in the right place despite the goals he’s scored and the clubs he’s played for.
It’s certainly a sensational list but that in part is Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s charm and it’s exactly why a super club like Manchester United brought him to Old Trafford. That’s despite him being well into his thirties, 34 to be exact, and probably well past his prime. He was never going to be the man to build a team around especially with Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Paul Pogba around. But back then, wailing in the post-David Moyes and Louis Van Gaal spell, they needed more. They need something spectacular to make fans love Manchester United again and since trophies, trebles or even Cristiano Ronaldo was never going to make that happen, they brought in the next best thing.
That is to join hands with a serial winner and a superstar in his own right, with them setting out to change Manchester United. They won trophies, they won plaudits but more than that what Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Jose Mourinho did together was make the Red Devils relevant again. He did the same thing even when he went to the MLS and while many believe it to be the retirement league, which it is, Zlatan showed them it could be more than that. But that relationship was never going to last too long especially with his ever glowing and out-spoken presence far too much for America to handle despite Donald Trump reigning supreme. His welcome message (“Dear Los Angeles, you’re welcome”) was a full-page ad and that alone stunned the world.
It never changed and even now at the age of 38, his presence hasn’t seemed to dimmed down one bit and it's exactly what Italy needs. There is a change brewing in the Serie A and yet the world somehow seems to believe that it’s nothing more than Juventus’ title to lose. It might just be but everyone else has stopped building more than a feeble resistance to those in Turin, which should give it more otherworldly presence. And yet, nothing has changed. Cristiano Ronaldo’s own magnificent fan following saw Juventus get a significant boost within seconds of announcing the move.
That cavalcade of fans started the moment the rumors did despite everything coming from the most unlikely of sources. But it was an overbearing presence once the move actually did happen with the Turin giants truly becoming giants of Italy, at least on social media if nothing else. And the same applies to the league. The Portuguese, despite his waning powers, has added a spark of grandeur and fan presence that the Italian league hasn’t seen since AC Milan and Inter Milan 'disappeared' from the world of football. The style of play has never changed and if anything the Italians have improved even more adding defensive steel with raw attacking power. However, with the advent of the La Liga and then the Premier League’s boom took the spotlight away.
Ronaldo brought it back and changed the perspective. The sheer number of people that one man brought in is staggering and it’s exactly what they needed especially in this day and age. It changed the way the world saw the Serie A and for a while gave the likes of Napoli, Parma, Fabio Quagliarella and co a tremendous boost. But even a superstar eventually fades away and much like Ronaldo’s powers, his presence is slowly disappearing. Branching out to the Kylian Mbappe’s, Jadon Sancho’s, Raheem Sterling’s and Paul Pogba’s of the world.
Which is where Zlatan Ibrahimovic comes in. The man maybe 38 years old. He may be walking into a mess in the form of AC Milan. He may also be adding nothing more than a few goals, professionalism and hopefully glues the Rossoneri back again just long enough for them to change a few things. But what’s more important is the ripples he’d make. That’s the Zlatan way and his outspoken nature will always find a way to be more than man. It’s not something that the Italian’s warmed up to the first time around and neither did Barcelona but this is a different time.
Now, the Serie A is looking for something to keep them in the game and what better way to keep them do that by bringing in a man with arguably a media presence as good as Ronaldo’s. And much like he did for Manchester United and the MLS, Zlatan brings the league back into relevance. It’s a sad fact that for them to do that they need to bring in the dying embers of a 38-year-old superstar but as unfortunate as it is, that’s the way the world works. It's also why the La Liga appointed cricketer Rohit Sharma as it's Indian brand ambassador and their first-ever non-footballer brand ambassador despite a plethora of Indian footballers to call upon. Because it's simply the way the world works.
However, while the MLS and America got overwhelmed by the mercurial Swede’s sheer presence, the Serie A is far too big to get Zlataneraed. When sliced down to its sheer essence, the word derived from the man himself means to dominate and it’s what happened to the Allsvenskan recently. So much so, that Sweden has grown sick of the man and his petulance for the dramatic. That’s the one thing that will never happen in Italy, much like in Manchester, because Zlatan for all his faults is, in the words of Barney Ronay, a bicycle thief with a brain.
It’s also why Calcio conductors need to find another answer. Because both their so-called superstars, if Zlatan ever shows up, are well past their prime. They need to use them as a stepping stone to something even bigger and with a whole host of youngsters growing up there show that there is more to an aging core. Not that there’s anything wrong with an aging core but a league as grandiose as the Serie A deserves to be something more than a graveyard filled with has-beens.
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