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Zlatan Ibrahimovic Will Bring Magic to Manchester United, but What About Titles?
- Updated: June 1, 2016
The Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Manchester United rumours have neither been quashed nor confirmed by the player himself.
On one hand, Portuguese publication A Bola report that he is “guaranteed” to arrive at Old Trafford (h/t Manchester Evening News). On the other, his agent Mino Raiola said, per the Sun:
We have not decided anything yet. I think it will be a surprise in the end. Everyone is harping on about only United, United, United.
There are some clubs in England, a few clubs in Europe, clubs outside Europe, but everyone assumes that he must go to Manchester United, but it is not true.
The player himself has ruled out a previously mooted return to his former club Malmo, and as BBC Sport reported, the player said “he would reveal his next club once he got ‘tired’ of reading all the speculation.”
Tease!I will tell you next club when I’m bored says #mufc target #zlatan Ibrahimovic https://t.co/3rX9ZOeXOK pic.twitter.com/UJ2mVZPDLd
— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) June 1, 2016
And speaking of speculation, if he does end up at United, would the firepower and footballing magic he would bring with him offer any kind of guarantee of silverware?
The short answer to that question is probably a simple “no.” United’s on-pitch problems over the past three seasons seem unlikely to be resolved by a change of manager and the addition of a 34-year-old striker alone.
The longer answer, though, is that his arrival would certainly help. Ibrahmovic’s career has been about nothing if not winning league titles. Since 2001/02, there have only been two seasons in which the side he was playing for did not win their country’s league.
Reading that sentence does not quite do justice to the consistency.
For the sake of visual impact, let’s list the seasons in which he has won the league; 2001/02, 2003/04, 2004/05, 2005/06, 2006/07, 2007/08, 2008/09, 2009/10, 2010/11, 2012/13, 2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16.
It makes for ridiculous reading.
There are caveats. The 2004/05 and 05/06 titles won with Juventus were both revoked following the Calciopoli scandal. And not all league title wins are created equal. In 2015/16 Paris Saint Germain won the league by 31 points—an obscene margin which speaks to a dearth of competition.
In that case, though, Ibrahimovic is involved in both cause and effect. He has benefited from the team around him being of a different calibre to the rest of the division, but, equally, having topped the goalscoring charts by a similarly obscene margin, his presence has been instrumental to their dominance.
He scored 38 league goals last season. Alexandre Lacazette came second in those charts with 21. The 17-goal gap between them would have earned joint-fourth place on the scoring charts.
He has been …
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