Arijon Ibrahimovic has no kinship with Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Because the 16-year-old shares the same surname as the legendary Swedish player, many people assume the two are related by blood.
Arijon, who was born in Germany to Kosovan parents, rose to prominence quickly for his football abilities. He was even named the best football player born in 2005 by the English newspaper Guardian.
After seeing the youngster’s impressive skill set, Bayern Munich head coach Julian Nagelsmann invited him to train with the senior team at the start of the year.
Though Arijon has yet to make his senior team debut, it won’t be long before he establishes himself as a regular starter.
And the man to whom many believe he is related needs no introduction. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is one of the few players who can proudly claim to have conquered every land on which he has set foot. And, no, it wasn’t because he started a war, but because of his athletic football skills.
Zlatan has trophies from England, France, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain. Even if you haven’t seen him play, you have undoubtedly seen memes about him.
Though many thought he was done haunting European teams after joining the LA Galaxy, he returned to Italy to play for AC Milan, where he helped them win their first league title in a decade. That was the most Zlatan thing that had ever happened.
Regardless of them not being related, Arijon has considered Zlatan Ibrahimovic as his idol in football.
In an interview in 2020, when he was awarded the best player in a youth tournament, Arijon said: “I’m Arijon Ibrahimovic, I’m from Kosovo, I play for Bayern U15 and my favorite player is Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrohimovic. I visit Kosovo as much as I can, I have few fellow Dardanians here at Bayern and we go quite well with each other.”
The 16-year-old recently showed how intellectually similar he is to Zlatan in an Instagram picture with the famous remark, “Lions do not compare themselves to humans,” from the former AC Milan, Inter Milan, and PSG striker.
The IG post read: “The tiger and the lion may be stronger. But the wolf doesn’t perform in the circus.”
When asked about his idol, Arijon said: “Well, I play in forward and score a few goals. But he is better than me. Later I would like to become a pro footballer, but that will take time. Until then, I want to play well with the squad and score many goals.”
Upon hearing this from the young lad, people have speculated that young Ibrahimovic could actually follow in the footsteps of the Swedish great Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Another player the Bayern star has named is Cristiano Ronaldo, who he looks after every day to become a prolific goal scorer.
The German youngster has every tool to become like Zlatan. He is already 5 feet 10.5 inches tall and could still attain height above 6 feet. The 16-year-old is very technical and strong. He started his career playing as an Attacking midfielder as Zlatan did in his initial career.
He also possesses solid fundamentals, trying 4.45 dribbles per 90 and making over half of his attempts, as well as 4.03 shoots per 90, with 38% of them being on goal. In a similar vein, Arijon’s stats are very astonishing for a player who is not a striker. He has netted 11 goals and 17 assists in his 34 appearances for Bayern’s U17 and U19 teams.
With the proper guidance from the German Champions, Arijon could actually become the next Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
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