Zlatan Ibrahimovic confirms Barcelona stay
The Catalan striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic commits his future with the Catalan Giants, shrugging off any speculations linking the striker away from Spain. Ibrahimovic was not that impressive in his first season with the Spanish Champions Barcelona, despite making 41 appearances for the Catalans.
He was able to score just 21 goals, which were few for whom Barcelona paid second highest transfer fee in history. A total of 69 million Euros were paid for the services of the striker, to his previous club, Inter Milan. Former Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o was used as a make shift in the deal. Ibrahimovic was joined by former Inter team mate Maxwell at Barcelona as a part of the total deal.
Paying so much money for a player is bound to create titanic expectations, and Ibrahimovic failed to come up to them, and was forced to sit out during the latter half of the campaign. Barcelona are to face their toughest season in the league this year round, as rivals Real Madrid have appointed Jose Mourinho as their new coach. Mourinho has a habit of winning whatever he likes, and comes from managing a fresh treble last season for his previous club Inter Milan.
Combine Mourinho’s brain and Real Madrid’s spending power, an unstoppable force is expected to be formed. Real Madrid already has a squad booming with the top players of the World, with names like Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Karim Benzema already playing for the Los Blancos. Mourinho looks to add more names to the already star studded squad, with Argentinean winger Angel Di Maria already joining Real Madrid this season. Players like Maicon and Sami Khedira are also on the Portuguese coach’s cross hair and it will only be a matter of time before these players ink a deal with Madrid.
In attempt to match the strength of their arch-rivals, Barcelona have snapped up star striker David Villa for a 40 Million euro transfer fee. Barcelona look to hold on to the league, as well as bolster its squad for the upcoming Champion league campaign. This intense rivalry is expected to make a tasteful spectacle next season, as the top players of the World will be playing in Spain. Owing to Ibrahimovic’s poor performance in the first season, Coach Pep Guardiola also confirmed that the club will not stop any player who wants to part ways with the Spanish Giants. The Swede however confessed that he never wants to quit the Catalonian club.
"During the summer, many clubs have been mentioned, but we haven't spoken to any of them", stated the 28 year old. While talking to a news channel, the striker stated that all of the news regarding the player moving out were just rumours and he was happy that clubs all over the World like his talent. Ibra however confessed his love for the Spanish champions, and never had any doubts whatsoever of leaving the club. The player considered the speculations as “free publicity”.
David Villa is all set to rival the Swede striker, but the striker looked forward to working with the Spanish forward. Zlatan confirmed that signing Villa was good for the club overall, and claimed David Villa to be one of the best forwards in the World.
Ibra added that Barcelona will want to improve from their last season, and have more opportunities to win more titles. Zlatan’s main reason to join the Spanish Champions was to win the Champions league with the Catalans, and has maintained his aim. Ibra claimed he wanted to win everything with the club, but his main aim is to take home the UEFA Champions league. The 28 year old might be surprised, that following his departure from Inter, the Italians won the Champions League, along with two other major titles to complete their first ever treble win.
Zlatan is well aware of Real Madrid’s new manager, Jose Mourinho, as he has already worked with him while at Inter Milan. The player therefore praised the Portuguese coach’s ability, claiming that Mourinho was a specialist in winning trophies, but still maintained the fact that his club Barcelona was the best team in the World.
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