Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s agent claims Swedish striker wants ‘revenge’ on new Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola
Mino Raiola hints at free transfer to Manchester United after revealing client is still smarting from time at Barcelona
AGENT Mino Raiola has given the biggest indication yet that Zlatan Ibrahimovic will join Manchester United after claiming the Swede wants revenge on Pep Guardiola.
Free agent Ibrahimovic is widely expected to link up with close ally Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford this summer after his Paris Saint-Germain contract expired.
And a move to the Premier League would see him come up against new Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, who worked with Ibrahimovic at Barcelona.
The duo did not get on at all during the veteran striker’s one-year Nou Camp spell, with Ibrahimovic describing his time in Catalonia as ‘like being back at school’.
The 34-year old clashed with Guardiola on numerous occasions, recalling an incident in the wake of Barca’s Champions League exit to Mourinho’s Inter Milan in 2010: “I yelled: ‘You haven’t got any b****!’ and worse than that I added: ‘You can go to hell!’
“I completely lost it, and you might have expected Guardiola to say a few words in response, but he’s a spineless coward. He just left, never to mention it again, not a word.”
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Ibrahimovic has made no secret of his disdain for Guardiola since leaving Barcelona, and joining United would put the pair on a collision course for the Manchester derby on September 10.
It was previously claimed that City were the only elite English club not to offer Ibrahimovic a deal this summer, and a reunion with Mourinho appears to be edging closer after Raiola insisted his client would love to score a point against Guardiola next season.
The super-agent told : “I think he wants revenge on Guardiola, although he does not live for it because you shouldn’t have two graves – one for him and one for the enemy.
“You learn more from defeats than you do from victories, and Zlatan learned a lot from what happened with Guardiola.
“As a person, I don’t like him either.
“Zlatan admits he is a great coach and I can think it but refuse to admit it.”