After further recent incidents involving Zlatan Ibrahimovic off the field, many people are now asking the question is the talented striker worth the trouble? Or is he just a bully?
He is loved and adored by so many but, equally, he is hated by many more due to his lack of loyalty and accusations of being a ‘mercenary’ by Juventus and Inter but those are perhaps the mildest of his actions down the years.
As wonderful a talent as he is on the field, it his clashes both on and off the pitch with teammates and members of the media that have once again brought him into the limelight for the wrong reasons despite sitting atop Serie A’s goalscoring charts and playing at the top of his game.
The latest incident involved the big Swede crashing his car into a journalist in theirs (although witnesses have since stated that ‘Ibra’ was perhaps not too blame in this instance) but he was most certainly to blame in the post-match press conference following the game against Lecce.
With the player in a foul mood, he threw his hairband at a female journalist before later telling her to “f**k off” and allegedly asking her to go do some cooking in the kitchen.
In January too he was sent off for slapping Napoli’s Salvatore Aronica across the head during a Serie A clash and received a three game ban. These are just some of the incidents involving the player from this season alone.
Last season he also received a lengthy ban for punching Bari’s Marco Rossi in the ribs which again highlighted the extremely tempestuous and violent side that does add credence to the claims that Ibrahimovic is nothing more than a bully.
He has a long track record for being an unpredictable personality who, those close to him have argued, does not always see the wrong in what he is doing. While he may feel he is just having fun, it may be that others do not quite see it the same way.
Rodney Strasser, Antonio Cassano and Christian Wilhelmsson (who he also violated a curfew to go to clubbing with while on international duty) have, at one stage or another, down the years all benefitted from Zlatan’s unique way of interacting with his teammates as each one of them has been the recipient of a swift kick to the back of the head.
He is definitely not a man you would not want taking his anger out on you though, as he achieved his black belt in taekwondo at the age of just 17.
His ‘me against the world’ attitude has also alienated him from managers down the years most notably with Pep Guardiola at Barcelona and has made him an easy target for those in the media.
The Spanish and English media are extremely harsh when it comes to discussing the player but would they be so critical of him were it not for some of his antics? After all, Ibrahimovic has won league titles wherever he has played and also ended his solitary season in Spain with an impressive goal tally of 21 goals.
It is his attitude then that so infuriated the media during his time there although he seems to be one of that select group of players in the peninsula down the years who have relied on their magnificent individual talent on the football field to allow for his other actions that are unwanted by anyone involved.
Throughout the history of calcio, there are quite a few examples of this kind of player who thinks they can get away with anything they want because they are of such high value to their club and there is no doubt this is the same in the case of Ibrahimovic.
He is simply indispensable to the Rossoneri and Juventus would have secured the Scudetto this season were it not for the goals of their talisman who, despite all of his misdemeanours, remains an undoubtedly enchanting personality.
Lazio’s Scudetto winning side of 1974 were a team of crazy characters and there was none wilder than their star striker, Giorgio Chinaglia who is quite similar to Ibrahimovic.
Both are the main men for their respective sides whose goals led their teams to the championship but Chinaglia, like Zlatan today, was not a player who would shy away from controversy and could also be found at the centre of quite a few skirmishes.
In fact, so alike are the players that the Welsh-Italian striker could also be found taking his anger out on his teammates at times and during one game against Inter, ran up to Vincent D’Amico and kicked him powerfully after the two had an argument.
Chinaglia is also renowned for being an similarly aggressive character towards authority as he often screamed and harassed referees if he felt things were not going his way and was also known on occasion to punch teammates for not passing the ball to him.
The fact that Zlatan has also recently revealed plans to build a massive hunting lodge likens him further to the former Italy striker as Chinalgia (and almost the entire rest of the squad) was known to carry a gun around with him and shoot at things like pigeons and cans out of boredom.
Yet, he remains a hero to the Rossoneri fans despite all of his misgivings which have likened him to such a fantastic player but one who was also extremely unpopular outside of his fanbase, simply because of how crucial he is to Masimilliano Allegri’s side on the pitch.
There may be many who do not like what he doesn’t do when he does not have the ball at his feet but it would be unfair to simply portray Ibrahimovic as a bully.
He is after all a man who, five years, ago invested in a new football pitch for the children of his hometown of Rosengard with money from his own pocket which included building a playing pitch, goal nets and posts, and a fence in an attempt to give something back to the community and keep them out of trouble.
The following year, he also donated a set of new Nike kits to his hometown youth club who he had once turned out for FBK Balkan so he isn’t always the villain that he is sometimes portrayed as.
Perhaps it is best to let the man himself sum up just why he is such a fiery character and leave you to make your own mind up.
“I have to be angry to play well,” says Zlatan. “I must scream and shout, that is who I am.”
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I recommend you read his book, It is truly a rosetta stone to understanding what can be described as irregular behavior. Best read i’ve had in months.