Swedish journalist and personal friend of Zlatan Ibrahimovic – Jennifer Wegerup – has given her thoughts on the striker’s return to AC Milan so far.
During the whole of last month there were many different reports about what the future held for the Swede, ranging from possible retirement, a move to Germany, a return to England or a romantic reunion with the Rossoneri.
In the end he chose the latter, and the impact of the ‘Ibra Effect’ has been felt in multiple spheres. Gazzetta Dello Sport highlight reported on their website that from 27 December to 3 January Milan registered +1.54% followers on Instagram, which is among the best results of the top European clubs.
Il Corriere della Sera added that Ibrahimovic also had a huge impact from a merchandising point of view as over 1,000 shirts were sold printed with his name on during the first day of his contract.
Meanwhile, Google released their analytics data for the month of December revealing that the word “Ibrahimovic” was, in fact, was the most searched term in December 2019.
Jennifer Wegerup, a personal friend of Zlatan has now spoken to MilanNews.it about his second adventure in the Rossoneri and his future.
“He’s doing well. I am not surprised his good physical shape, he is very disciplined and has a monstrous physique. That said it is obvious that can always improve; he must get used to playing 90 minutes at high pace,” he said.
“He will never be the player of eight years ago but being a player with a lot of experience and being very intelligent he still manages to do well.
In the recent Wegerup has called Zlatan a “peaceful leader” and even though he never used to appear as that, he is now demonstrating it on the pitch. What has resulted in this change in attitude?
“I’m happy. Last November I wrote a very read piece in Sweden, where I asked Zlatan to let go of the style of angry boy and become the man and leader who knows how to be.
“Now he’s doing it, great. He doesn’t get angry, he is calm and he stays calm, he behaves like a great leader for young players and the whole club. I knew he had it inside him.”
Could Ibrahimovic stay at Milan for another year if the team qualifies for Europe?
“They [his family] have not returned to live in Milan, the children are grown up and their family life is now in Sweden, which is their country anyway. Even Zlatan says every now and then that the more years pass, the more he misses Sweden. Even if he loves Italy too. Let’s see. Anything can happen in life, let’s see.”
What does the future hold for Zlatan once his footballing career has ended? Will he become a coach? Or maybe an executive?
“Maybe neither of them. Coach I don’t think so. More as a director but he has not said. Zlatan is not a person who lives like many footballers in that world. For example, during an interview he gets bored talking about game systems etc., he can’t stand journalists who want to show how much they know about football.
“He loves to talk about challenges, life, death, his hunger, his dreams, his career, his thoughts. So he certainly has many plans at stake , even in Hammarby now, but it is not that type of person who is sick if he is not near a field and a changing room every day, indeed.”
