IANS
London, Sept 6: Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has revealed that he had offers from Arsenal and Manchester City before joining Manchester United under the command of Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho, who was instrumental in his decision to finally play at the English football club.
“I was close to moving to the English Premier League twice – once with Arsenal and then Manchester City. But it never happened,” Zlatan told British broadcaster ‘Sky Sports’, Monday.
Ibrahimovic, 34, is one of four reinforcements for the Red Devils this season, with Paul Pogba arriving from Juventus, Eric Bailly coming from Villarreal and Henrikh Mkhitaryan who moved from Borussia Dortmund.
The former Sweden captain has so far scored four goals in his first four official matches with United.
Ibrahimovic informed that Portuguese coach Mourinho, with whom he played in Inter Milan, was key to his signing for the Old Trafford side.
“Mourinho is the mastermind, the master brain. He knows what he needs to do to win. I learned a lot from him at Inter. Who wouldn’t want to have Mourinho as manager,” Ibra said.
“In my formative years, I have learnt a lot from him. He is very quick to spot a weakness in the opposition and thus can take advantage of it. The best thing about him is that he is always ready to accept his mistakes and act accordingly,” added the talismanic striker.
Mourinho, on his part had earlier wanted to work with Ibrahimovic at Chelsea. However, the management of the Blues was not keen to recruit the striker.
