AC Milan striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has dropped yet another strong hint that he has no intention of hanging up his boots at the end of the season.
Despite having a decorated career behind him already it seems that Ibra’s burning desire to keep going and proving people wrong is the thing that ensures he is still decisive in a top European league into his 40s, and there is talk that this might not even be his last season with Milan.
Ibrahimovic gave an interview to the French newspaper L’Equipe which has been released on the day the highly anticipated league match against Juventus. He spoke about what the future holds, and certainly implied that retirement is not on the cards.
“Normally, at 40 you are in your house, you light a cigar and look back with satisfaction on your career. But I’m not ready to smoke a cigar yet, ” he said (via Calciomercato.com).
The Swede also spoke about his experience in Ligue 1 with Paris Saint-Germain, the club he joined along with Thiago Silva in the summer of 2012 from Milan when then-owner Silvio Berlusconi sold two of the most important players from the 2010-11 title winning season.
“It is absolutely not easy to play in Ligue 1, it is not a lower level league as it is claimed. France has great talents who have a great hunger for success, as well as being physically very strong. The French are renowned for their arrogance and accused me of being so. For this reason, in my opinion they should feel proud, because I represented them best. I too miss France a bit: it was not easy, but I lived beautiful years there.”
On his time at PSG, he added: “I worked every day and I am proud of what I have done. Every day, the club is getting bigger and bigger and I can say that I too have given my part, bringing what I had learned at Juventus and Milan.
“I didn’t adapt to PSG, it was the other way around. The club wanted to reach the highest level when they took me, but there was so much to work on. I’m proud to say to myself that I was there in the beginning, seeing where did they arrive today. Donnarumma? He is the strongest in the world and that’s it. There is no need to argue. I played with him, I know what I’m saying.”
Finally Ibrahimovic gave advice to Kylian Mbappé: “It depends what he wants and what he thinks. I would have gone to Real Madrid, but if I were a PSG manager I would try to keep him. Only he will decide. Mbappé asked me and I said: ‘In your place I would go to Real’. I played in different countries and that’s how I grew up. If you stay in the backyard all the time it’s easier. If you go to others it’s an adventure.”
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