Playing for 90
Fansided

Zlatan Ibrahimovic Must Not Watch the Premier League

By Rucker Haringey

Jul 29, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Paris Saint-Germain forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic (10) reacts after scoring a goal against the Manchester United during the first half at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 29, 2015; Chicago, IL, USA; Paris Saint-Germain forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic (10) reacts after scoring a goal against the Manchester United during the first half at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

Zlatan Ibrahimovic reportedly thinks it’s too late in his career to make a move to the Premier League. Evidently he doesn’t watch the League on a regular basis. If he did, he would undoubtedly see that he has more than enough gas in the tank to help most of the English league’s top clubs.

For those who don’t get the chance to watch Ibrahimovic play regularly for PSG let me make it clear. He’s still got it. He has scored nine goals in eight matches thus far and is posting an eye-popping 8.34 Whoscored.com rating. Even if you think the Premier League is tougher competition than Ligue 1, that rating proves he has more than enough ability left to contribute. You could subtract an entire point from his performance score to account for the difference in the two leagues and you’d still have a rating befitting of one of the Premier League’s top front men.

Looking down the list of strikers who start regularly in the Premier League, there are only a few sides that couldn’t use a player of Ibra’s quality. In fact, I only count four sides that wouldn’t trade their current striker for the talented PSG man. Manchester City would prefer to start Sergio Aguero, Leicester would keep Jamie Vardy in the lineup, Romelu Lukaku would keep his place at Everton and Tottenham would likely stick with Harry Kane.

More from Playing for 90

For those of you that aren’t math majors that leaves 16 Premier League clubs that would see Ibra as an upgrade at striker. This doesn’t necessarily mean they’d trade their current option for him. I’m just making the point that if you’re just looking for one season he’d be one of the top handful of strikers available.

Once you establish that he has more than enough ability left to play in the Premier League you have to consider why Ibrahimovic made the statements he did. He’s not coming to the Premier League because he knows he is past his prime. For him, being one of the top handful of strikers in a league isn’t good enough. He would only want to come to England and further his international reputation if he could be the best striker in the league.

That’s the way legendary players think and no one thinks themselves more legendary than Ibrahimovic. His vanity and self-belief make a Premier League switch impossible at this juncture in his career. It’s simply not worth the risk. Can you imagine the embarrassment he’d feel if age robbed him of his skills just as he moved to the world’s most scrutinized league? It would be a huge blow to his sense of accomplishment and self-esteem.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic won’t be coming to the Premier League anytime in the future and we’re all worse off for his decision. However, his decision to play elsewhere isn’t because he can’t contribute to a Premier League side. It’s simply based on his inability to dominate the league in the fashion that he would desire.

Home/Premier League