Zlatan Ibrahimovic has opened up on the conversation with Arsene Wenger that saw his move to Arsenal ultimately collapse after having already posed with the No 9 shirt.
Ibrahimovic was undoubtedly one of the greatest strikers of his generation, finding great success with a host of top European sides including Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Ajax and Manchester United.
He is regularly touted as one of the greatest players to have never won the Champions League, which evaded his grasp throughout his career, despite picking up 12 league titles and scoring over 570 senior career goals.
But despite a storied career at the top of the game, the now 42-year-old came tantalisingly close to a move to north London from Swedish side Malmo at the start of his rise to the top at the age of 17.
The 12-time Guldbollen (Swedish Player of the year) winner appeared for an interview with outspoken Arsenal fan Piers Morgan, discussing the reason why a switch to Highbury never materialised.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic (pictured) has opened up on his failed move to Arsenal at the age of 17
The move never materialised after his conversation with Arsene Wenger despite posing in the No 9 shirt
Wenger’s Arsenal side were at the peak of their powers in the late 90s and early noughties
‘When I was young, I had a lot of interest from a lot of clubs, and one of them was Arsenal,’ Ibrahimovic began on Piers Morgan Uncensored.
‘So, I came to the office of Mr Arsene Wenger, and it was a big hype because I saw these players, (Dennis) Bergkamp, (Thierry )Henry, I saw (Freddie) Ljungberg, I saw (Patrick) Vieira, I saw all these players, and I was like “F**k, this is big”, because these players I see on TV, even if I already played in high level Sweden.
‘But this was big, because this was like, “I am here now”. Last week I was playing PlayStation with these guys. And I spoke with Wenger, he was tall, I didn’t expect him to be so tall.
‘I came in his office and we spoke and he was like, “What do you want?” He wanted to get to know me, to feel me. Because I think he is a type of person, he just don’t buy the player, he wants to know what he is buying I think. In the end, he had an Arsenal shirt with Number 9 and, “We want you to come and do a trial for two weeks.”
‘Everything was good until he said you come and do a trial. I was looking at him. Obviously he is Wenger, I am nobody at that moment. I said, “I don’t do trials”, and he was like, “What do you mean?”
‘”I don’t do trials, either you want me or you don’t want me, or else why am I here?” That was me, but it was not to play a game, it was me. “No, but you have to come and do a trial” and then, “No, no, you don’t understand, I don’t do trials”. That was it, I never went to Arsenal.’
The forward’s confidence is well-documented, with Ibrahimovic often referring to himself in the third person by his first name in interviews and comparing himself to a lion.
At the time of his failed move aged 17, Arsenal were enjoying one of the best periods in their history, challenging Manchester United for supremacy in the English top-flight.
Ibrahimovic won 12 domestic league titles in four different countries in his fabled career at the top
The talismanic striker scored 62 times in 122 games for Sweden, winning Swedish player of the year a whopping 12 times
The Gunners won three Premier League titles in seven seasons from 1997-98 to 2003-04, the last one achieved without losing a single game.
In his interview with Morgan, Ibrahimovic also perhaps controversially defended the Glazer family’s ownership of Manchester United, which has seen fans regularly protest, with bidders vying to prise the club away from them.
The Swedish legend suggested it was perhaps erroneous for fans to criticise their American owners for not doing what they wanted, given the massive outlay on players in recent years.
This summer alone saw Erik ten Hag’s side sign Andre Onana, Rasmus Hojlund, Mason Mount and Altay Bayindir for £183.2million, while they also paid an £8m loan fee for Sofyan Amrabat, with a £21m buy option.
The Glazers have have been a source of contention at Old Trafford ever since they became owners in 2005, with fans regularly protesting against them (pictured – Avram and Joel)
They have drained more than £1bn out of the club since their leveraged takeover in 2005
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