It’s fair to say that Manchester United have lost their mojo since Sir Alex Ferguson retired 3 seasons ago, 2 managers have been sacked in the space of three years, something we don’t associate with United. However United fans have a lot to be cheerful for this summer, Jose Mourinho has been brought in by the management to stop this slide, he will bring with him years of experience of managing in the top leagues around the world. He is also well versed with the Premier League after his two tenures with Chelsea. The Portuguese will be tasked to get The Red Devils back into the Champions League next season.
It’s not going to be easy for Mourinho though, he will be competing against the best managers of the world week in week out, something he hasn’t faced till now. The Manchester Derby promises to be a mouth watering fixture this campaign with both Guardiola and Mourinho resuming their rivalry from the days of El Classico. Mourinho has already started making changes to the squad, he has brought in three top quality players to Old Trafford. The one player who the fans will be most excited to see is Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The Swede has a big reputation coming in and why not, the former PSG striker was lifting league titles with Ajax before Marcus Rashford had started school.
Here are three things that the United fans can look forward to with Zlatan.
Goals
Ibrahimovic will soon be turning 35 but that has lowered his hunger for goals one bit. Signs of decline are still nowhere to be seen, he has just produced the best goalscoring season of his career, netting 50 times in 51 appearances for Paris Saint-Germain, winning the golden boot with a margin of 15 goals. It’s the second best tally of any striker in a major European league. It’s his consistency which is particularly impressive, having passed the 30-goal mark in all competitions in each of his last five seasons and scored more than 20 goals for nine seasons in a row at four different clubs, shows how lethal he is up front.
Experience
The Swede is the perfect marquee addition that Ed Woodward has been looking for and will go a long way to helping restore the club to the pinnacle of the English and European game. Ibrahimovic has been profilic since he left Malmo in his native Sweden at 20, he has been successful where ever he has gone. Astonishingly He has won 13 national titles in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and France, it was only in 2002/03 and 2011/12 seasons that Zlatan didn’t finish on the top. He will bring with him valuable experience of playing for so many years, something the United youngsters can learn from.
Character And Charisma
Football pundits across the globe have spoken about the Zlatan effect. There are no bigger names in world football right now than Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He’s on a level with Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Neymar in terms of global superstar status. No one messes with Zlatan, and he doesn’t let opponents bully his teammates. He is the kind of leader that United have been missing since Vidic and Ferdinand left the club a few seasons ago. The fact that he has already been compared to Eric Cantona just goes to show, how crucial he will be to this team.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ln35qLphK4I]
Source: Soccer Souls