10 football stars who are legends at three different clubs
The advent of social media, internet, public commentators on sport and several other things have led to the overuse of the word LEGEND, including and especially in football. A sense of instant gratification and over glorification leads people to term some players legends, even when they are far away from the word. Maybe the definition of a legend is subjective and personal but there are some, whose status is absolutely unquestionable.
Over the years, we have seen greats like Pele, Diego Maradona, George Best, Michel Platini, Lionel Messi, Ronaldo, Paul Scholes and Zinedine Zidane leave indelible marks on the history of teams they have represented. However, there are certain players who have established milestones in multiple clubs, sometimes by taking them to unprecedented heights while restoring pride and self belief on other occasions.
Being a legend for one club is extremely tough but the following list of players have done it in different teams, something that makes them truly unique. Here is a list of ten players who have established themselves as legends at not one, not two, but THREE clubs:
#1 Zlatan Ibrahimovic – Ajax, Internazionale and Paris Saint-Germain
If Zlatan Ibrahimovic would come to know that this list is being prepared, he would want to be at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Ibrahimovic probably became a legend at the Swedish hospital in Malmo, where he was born in 1981. Jokes aside, there have been few players in footballing history who have maintained such high quality throughout their careers.
Following his start in Malmo, Ibrahimovic moved to Dutch club Ajax, where he played under Ronald Koeman and became a serious attacking threat. During his time at Ajax, Zlatan won the Dutch Eredivisie twice (2001-02, 2003-04) and the KNVB cup once. After a few seasons at Italian giants Juventus, Zlatan Ibrahimovic moved to Internazionale in 2006 and his time with the Nerazzuri proved to be hugely successful as he scored 66 times in over 110 appearances and helped them win three consecutive Serie A titles.
Zlatan was the Serie A top scorer in 2008-2009 and won Serie A Footballer of the Year in 2008 and 2009 during his time at Inter. Barcelona came calling in 2009 and Ibrahimovic signed for the Catalns to form a possibly devastating attacking partnership with Lionel Messi. However, things do not always work out as one thinks and Zlatan’s time at Barcelona proved to be quite torrid due to strained relations with manager Pep Guardiola.
After moving to AC Milan from Barcelona and helping them win the Scudetto, Ibrahimovic moved to French giants Paris Saint-Germain for a fees in the region of £15.7 million. Despite being 30 when he joined PSG, Zlatan played like a champion in France and the Paris-based outfit won the league in all seasons he was there. In fact, PSG became the first club for which he played more than a hundred games (180) and scored more than 156 goals.
Quite rightfully, when he came to end of his time in Paris, Zlatan said, “I came like a king and left like a legend.”