The mercurial Swede announced himself to the Manchester United dressing room in typical fashion
Zlatan Ibrahimovic during his time at Manchester United
Former Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata has revealed the typically bombastic way that Zlatan Ibrahimovic announced himself to the Old Trafford dressing room.
The Swede signed for the Red Devils in 2016 for the latest stop in a career which had seen him win league titles with Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain.
Alongside free agent Ibrahimovic, the club also re-signed Paul Pogba, who returned to the team from Juventus in a world record €105million deal that summer, as the club added two big personalities to the squad.
Former Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata (Image credit: Getty Images)
Mata, who had signed from Chelsea two years earlier, has recalled that time and his relationships with both players.
“They were two players with a lot of charisma,” he tells FourFourTwo. “I had more of a relationship with Paul because we spent more time together, but Zlatan was fun.
“When he first arrived in the Carrington dressing room, there were a few players around and the first thing he said was, “God has arrived”,” the Spaniard adds, laughing.
“People were freaking out, but after 10 seconds he started laughing and it was just a joke. It may sound arrogant, but that’s the way he is.”
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The club would win the League Cup and Europa League in the 2016/17 season, with Ibrahimovic netting 29 goals in 53 games during his two-year spell with the club.
Paul Pogba celebrates Manchester United's 2017 League Cup win
Pogba, however, struggled to consistently live up to his lofty price tag during what was a six-year second stint at Old Trafford. He would move back Juve in the summer of 2022, but after an injury-hit 2022/23 campaign, he was handed a four-year doping ban earlier this year.
Mata admits that the Frenchman’s current situation saddens him.
"We had a lot of conversations about football,” he says when asked if he ever gave Pogba any advice.
“He was a fantastic guy: cheerful and supportive, with a very positive aura about him. Everything that’s happened to him lately makes me sad. He has absolutely everything as a footballer.”
For more than a decade Joe Mewis has worked in football journalism as a reporter and editor, with stints at Mirror Football and LeedsLive among others. He is the author of four football history books that include times on Leeds United and the England national team.
