Ibra: 'Manchester have a small club mentality'

During his two years in the Premier League, Zlatan Ibrahimovic played 53 times and scored 29 times - though a severe injury cut his time at Old Trafford short. He helped Red Devils win Liga Cup and Europa League and then left for Los Angeles, before coming back to Serie A, this time to AC Milan. And while he had modest success in his short stint with United, it seems that the Swede was not impressed by one of the biggest clubs in the world. In fact, he doesn’t think they are that big, at least when it comes to mentality.

In his autobiography „Adrenaline“ which was released last Thursday, he wrote strong words about the Red Devils.

“One thing surprised me: everyone thinks of United as a top club, one of the richest and most powerful in the world and seen from the outside it looked that way to me. But once I was there I found a small, closed mentality” writes Ibra.

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Current Milan striker gave a couple of ’proofs’ for his claims and one of them was the treatment of Wayne Rooney. Former United striker left United during Ibra’s spell with the club, and the Swede was annoyed because he thought they have treated him poorly. The former England international left as United's all-time highest goalscorer with 253 in total, ahead of the likes of Denis Law, Ryan Giggs and Ruud van Nistelrooy, but Ibrahimovic revealed that his name came off the locker almost by the time he had left the exit door and claimed they treated him like he "never existed".

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But the thing that annoyed Zlatan the most was the fruit juice which the club charged him after one match.

“One day I was in the hotel with the team before a game. I got thirsty so I opened the mini-bar and had a fruit juice. We played and then went home. Some time went by. My pay slip arrives. Normally I don’t look at it. I only do so at the end of the year to see what’s come in and what’s gone out. But that time, I don’t know why, I was curious and realised they’d taken a pound off my monthly wage. I called the team manager: ‘Excuse me, why have they taken a pound off my salary.’ The team manager had a look and told me: ‘It was the fruit juice from the mini-bar.’ ‘Are you kidding, seriously?’ ‘No, I’m not. Here, if you order something you have to pay for it.’ ‘Sure, but I didn’t go to the hotel on my own accord. I wasn’t on holiday. It was my work place. I was there for Manchester. If I have to play and I'm thirsty, I have to drink. I can’t go on the pitch dehydrated.’ Can you believe it? A quid? Something like that would never happen in Italy. These are the details that make a difference and earn the respect of the players“ concluded the Swede.

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And off course, this episode couldn’t be finished without a typical Ibra big ego response, this time to a security guard at Manchester’s training ground.

“Every day I was asked to show my papers just to get into the training ground. I’d lower my window and say to the person at the gate: ‘Listen my friend I’ve been coming here every day for a month. I’m the best player in the world. If you still don't recognise me, you’re in the wrong job’”  snapped Ibrahimovic.