Clubs wait as Ibra bids PSG adieu
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SWEDEN’S larger-than-life captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic will play his final league game for Paris Saint-Germain today, he said in a social media post that is likely to send clubs around the world reaching for their check books.
With an ego in keeping with his imposing physique, the aging but still prolific striker announced his departure in typically flamboyant style.
“I came like a king, left like a legend,” he said on Facebook, confirming expectations he would seek to add a new chapter to a glittering career after saying in March that only a statue of him erected in place of the Eiffel Tower would persuade him to stay.
Ibrahimovic, whose existing deal expires on June 30, will make his final home appearance in its last Ligue 1 game of the season against Nantes today. However, he will then run out in a PSG shirt one more time when it faces Marseille in the French Cup final on May 21 at the Stade de France.
Ibrahimovic reportedly pushed for a one-year extension but PSG said the club and the player decided mutually not to renew their contract.
“They agreed as well that once the player ends his active football career he would be back in the club in a managerial capacity,” PSG said in a statement.
The 34-year-old Swede joined PSG in 2012, adding four Ligue 1 titles to an already impressive trophy cabinet, though some questioned his decision to compete against teams of lesser means in France, rather than move to England or back to Italy, where he played for Inter and AC Milan or Spain, where he fitted out for Barcelona.
He rattled almost a goal a game in establishing the star-studded PSG as the dominant force in French football, and his scintillating domestic and UEFA Champions League form this season saw his name again linked with a host of clubs.
MLS side LA Galaxy is now widely rumored to be leading the race for his signature, and Ibra has also been linked to clubs in the Premier League, the Middle East and China.
Sweden coach Erik Hamren believes he could still deliver in England, despite his advancing years. “He has a fantastic physique,” he said recently. “If Zlatan is motivated mentally, then he can stay at the top for several more years.”
Having famously said that the FIFA World Cup in Brazil wouldn’t be worth watching because he wouldn’t be playing, Ibra is set to lead Sweden at this summer’s Euro 2016 finals in France.
With next Saturday’s cup final against Marseille set to be his last for a club side on French soil, he will be hoping for a few more electric performances for Sweden before finally saying “adieu” to the country that has been his home for four years.
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