The Zlatan laughs at father time
Many assumed that although Ibra was a world class striker, his age would be noticeable in the premier league with all the young and hungry talent. They speculated that he might be a problem for team moral, that he might complain or sulk or insult team members, outspoken is a word you could definitely use for "The Zlatan",
However as soon as he put on a red uniform (doesn't it look amazing on him?) he proved why he is one of the greatest strikers of the generation. Scoring goal after goal and always allowing Manchester United to be competitive.
Although they are actually one position down on where they were last year, the team would be in much worse condition without the Swedish star. He is 5th in scoring for the league and has lead the Red Devils to some tough wins thanks to his incredible marksmanship late in matches.
It is something... Right?
With the return of Paul Pogba and the addition of a player like Zlatan a lot of United fans assumed that these season would be the beginning of greatness again. If you did a survey with a 100 united fans, I am sure that at least 90% would see United in the top 4, fighting for the league title. It has not gone down that way at all sadly (for me at least, a lowly United supporter) they currently sit in 6th place 2 points away from 4th place Arsenal and they are behind in goal difference by quiet a margin.
However this season has not been terrible, so long as your expectations were not too high to start with. The team has started to gel more and more as the season has gone on, there is a lot of laughter amongst the players, especially the two new signings, who get a lot of TV time of course. And although Jose Mourinho has done a little complaining here or there about the difficulty and expectations of being the manager of this club, he seems to have the respect of the team.
Plus they won the Football League Cup final yesterday 3-2 against Southampton, this was thanks to 2 goals from Zlatan. Including a goal in the 89th minute which sealed the deal. Manchester United had played terribly the whole game pretty much however when you have a striker like him you always have a chance. For the sake of fairness I will also mention the very controversial offside call that potentially cost Southampton the title.
Zlatan now has 26 goals overall this season.
Along with the Community Shield they have as much silverware this season as Arsenal have won since 2014 (I don't hate Arsenal I promise).
Zlatan does not do mediocre
Ibra is very much used to success on a team. 6th place was definitely not what he signed up for. To be honest you couldn't ask for much more from him if you are a fan of the club and everyone knows that this year has been a massive disappointment.
His agent has let the world know that there is absolutely no guarantee that Zlatan will stay with the Manchester squad. Mino Raiola is the agent of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, when asked about number 9's future he said: "anything could happen" much to the dismay of United fans, who are pretty much willing to beg for his long term loyalty.
Jose Mourinho has made it clear that he wants Ibra to remain on the squad however he stated: "I never beg for a player to sign a contract."
To be honest if a player replicated the success Zlatan has had as a striker I would probably beg a little. We will see if he will remain with the club for the long haul, I certainly hope so.
