Jose Mourinho has revealed that he once jokingly mocked Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s trophy collection to convince him to join Manchester United.
The 34-year-old striker signed a one-year deal with the Premier League giants earlier this month and is set to make his debut when the club travel to Ibrahimovic’s homeland, Sweden, to play Galatasaray next week.
The Swede has won 13 league titles in the last 15 seasons but hasn’t had the taste of Premier League action.
Mourinho has won league titles in Spain, England, and Italy and the 53-year-old said he pointed out to Ibrahimovic that the last title he needed to complete the ‘big four’ was in the Premier League.
“Let’s be honest, he’s very rich,” said Mourinho.
“He’s made money all his career, he’s won a lot of things, you only come to the most difficult championship in the world if you feel you can do it.
“If you don’t feel you can do it you go to America, China, stay in the French league one more season. So the guy wanted this one more challenge.
“When I told him that I had won in England, Spain, and Italy and he hadn’t, that he’d done Spain, Italy, and France, he thought: “Ahh, I want to go. I want to win every one.”
“So his motivation is high. His body is amazing. On Sunday he is going to start a specific programme we have prepared before he joins our group on Thursday so he has five days just for him. So I expect he is going to be very good for us.”
Manchester United would need Ibrahimovic to offer more, much more, than four goals and a dressing-room presence. They’d be anticipating a star striker who can lead the attack. So, just a few months shy of his 35th birthday, what could Ibrahimovic be expected to deliver?
Signs of decline are not obvious. Ibrahimovic has just produced the best goalscoring season of his career, netting 50 times in 51 appearances for Paris Saint-Germain – some 15 goals more than his next best effort. It’s the second-best tally of any striker in a major European league.