Following Paris Saint-Germain’s 2-0 win over Lyon in the French Super Cup in Montreal last weekend, Zlatan Ibrahimovic admitted he may have played his last game for PSG.
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The Swedish international striker, 33, has just one-year left on his current deal and has been heavily linked with a move to AC Milan and Galatasaray, while he also admitted he’d like to play in Major League Soccer.
“It could be that this was my last game for PSG,” Ibrahimvoic said. “Next week I will take a decision over my future.”
Instead of letting Ibrahimovic move to Italy or Turkey, should Arsenal or Manchester United take a punt on Zlatan’s mercurial talents for the next two years?
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For me, he’s worth the gamble. Sure, he has a big personality and rubs some people the wrong way but Zlatan has always seemed like a player who is perfectly suited to the Premier League. He has excelled in Holland, Italy, Spain (at times) and now France, but the challenge of succeeding in the PL may be his final quest to really finish his career with a bang.
Ibrahimovic has already said his next move “may surprise” people and if he signed for United or Arsenal it would certainly be a huge shock. That’s not because he isn’t a top-class striker, but because his age will likely go against him. However, United and Arsenal are screaming out for a forward he can add goals at pivotal points of games, come off the bench and change matches with their physical presence and help to give a focal point to their attack. Zlatan ticks all of those boxes.
United look especially slim up top with Wayne Rooney and James Wilson their only natural center forwards and Memphis Depay able to play there at a push. As for Arsenal, Theo Walcott (usually a winger) played up front in the Community Shield vs. Chelsea last Sunday, while Olivier Giroud has plenty of critics for his strike-rate and Danny Welbeck has been injury-prone since he arrived at the Emirates Stadium. With Zlatan having one-year left on his deal, and given his age, United or Arsenal wouldn’t have to pay a transfer fee more than $20 million and he’s not that big of a gamble. We are talking about a player who has scored 340 goals in 618 career games at club level.
It probably won’t happen as Milan look like the favorites to land the Swedish striker, but wouldn’t it be fun to see Zlatan grace the PL before he retires and have a big impact at United or Arsenal for a few years?
