Zlatan Ibrahimovic fuels rumours of a Manchester United move- talks of enjoying fighting with Van Gaal
Zlatan Ibrahimovic has described his relationship with Louis van Gaal as ‘not good’, in an interview with Sports Illustrated. The 33-year-old striker has been linked with a move away from Paris Saint-Germain this summer and mentioned this week that only his agent Mino Raiola knows about his future.
Ibrahimovic has been strongly linked to AC Milan amongst a host of other clubs, though his recent links have been to Manchester United. The striker has already played under Van Gaal when the Dutchman was the technical director of Ajax, but the two never got along.
He was sold to Juventus in 2004 as a consequence of the feud between Van Gaal and Ronald Koeman, who was the manager at that time. According to Zlatan’s best-selling book I Am Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swedish striker has claimed that Van Gaal treats his players like boys and not men and also described the manager as a ‘pompous ass’ who ‘wanted to be a dictator’.
When asked about his relationship with Van Gaal these days, Zlatan said: “No, that's not good. He was a director in Ajax, and the way he is working is not the way I work."
He went on to add that it would be a ‘big problem’ if he were to play under Van Gaal at Old Trafford, although he stopped short of saying that it would prevent him from moving to Manchester.
“He is professional and I’m professional. Wherever I’ve worked I’ve never had these kind of problems, because at the end the I need to do my job, he needs to do his job.” he said.
He added: “And I think a lot of fights would happen, but that’s something I like.”
There have been reports stating that United could make a move for Ibrahimovic, which all came about when Van Gaal mentioned that United were close to signing a ‘surprise’ striker, but he has gone to clarify his comments since then.
"I don't know if I want to buy a striker," Van Gaal said in his news conference, according to ESPN. "I have read in the media a striker is the surprise. That's not what I said. I mean something else."