Zlatan Ibrahimovic: I'm '10 times better' than everyone else; Serie A is 'the best'
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Updated 10/11/2015 at 12:09 GMT
Zlatan Ibrahimovic said ‘Serie A is the best league in the world’ and referred to his body as 'a car' in a typically-brilliant pair of interviews.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic - PSG - 2015
Image credit: AFP
Ibrahimovic collected his tenth Guldbollen (Swedish Golden Ball) - as a prize for being selected as the country's best footballer - it's the ninth straight year he has won it.
He told the Stockholm audience upon accepting the trophy: "Last year, I promised to come here to collect my 10th Golden Ball -- I don't know if I can promise the same thing for next year.
"But this makes me think of my time as a junior football player in Malmo.
"I used to sit in the locker room, looking around, and thinking: 'to succeed I have to be 10 times better than everyone else.'
"It feels like I have already managed that. There is no more to say. I have made history again and again.
"I hope someone else gets to experience what I have experienced. The joy can't be described. Many thanks to all who have been following me from day one."
The 34-year-old has played for Juventus, Inter and Milan but left the peninsula in 2012 to join current French champions Paris Saint-Germain.
It is unlikely the higher-ups at PSG will be too thrilled with Zlatan's subsequent comments in an interview with Italian paper Gazzetta dello Sport, however.
“Serie A is the place where I became famous with Juventus,” he said.
“At Ajax I wasn’t an international star yet everything changed at the Bianconeri: the world opened its eyes and saw me.
“Apart from the year at Barcelona, I played and lived in Italy from 2004 to 2012.
“I won the title with the three biggest clubs, Juventus, Inter and Milan. I became top scorer, I was chosen as best player.
“For me it remains the best league in the world. And also it’s the most difficult for a striker, because they think firstly about not conceding goals and then about making them.”
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Sweden captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic talks during a news conference in Stockholm
Image credit: Reuters
Speculation has been rife regarding Ibrahimovic's long-term PSG future, with reports all summer linking with him a return to Italy.
However the latest rumours suggest Major League Soccer, past and present home of many famous thirtysomethings in football, could be the next destination for the Swede.
Zlatan said he would be up for an American stint - if he was convinced that an MLS franchise shared his ambitions.
“Everything outside of the world of football interests me more than in the past,” he explained.
“Before, I received proposals and rejected them without thinking and soon there will be other new projects.
“But for now the ball is still the most important thing – I make my choices as a footballer.
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Paris St Germain's Zlatan Ibrahimovic (C) celebrates with his team mates Lucas (L) and Blaise Matuidi after scoring against Shakhtar Donetsk during their Champions League group A soccer match at the Arena Lviv stadium in Lviv.
Image credit: Eurosport
“MLS? Everything appeals to me. But there has to be a serious project on the other side. I have my ideas, I know what I want but it takes two.
“Anything could happen. I feel good and I’m playing well. Then in a month or six, who knows.
“For now I’m in good shape, and as long as I feel I can give something on the pitch I will continue to play.
“My body is like a car: The more you drive it, the better it works. My age isn’t telling me to stop.”
While there are countless old models of automobile and their frustrated owners who would disagree with Zlatan's latest analogy, there's no doubt his 'car' still has plenty to offer and that a change of club could be all the 'restoring' this particular ride needs.
But don't assume interest in the self-assured star is limited to just Italy and the States - Euro Papers yesterday detailed reports that Manchester United could even make a January bid for Zlatan!
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