Manchester United star Zlatan Ibrahimovic admits he was a ‘pain in the ass’ when he was started on his road to glory
But the new Red Devils icon reveals it was his father who inspired him to become a global superstar in documentary
ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC admits he was “pain in the ass” as a teenager footballer.
But Man Utd’s new superstar says he was driven to global success by his “demanding” father Sefik.
Ibrahimovic, 34, is expected to be one of the stars of the Premier League next season, having arrived at Old Trafford on a free transfer from Paris St-Germain.
United boss Jose Mourinho has signed him to become the main man up front and assume a leader’s role in the dressing room.
But in a new revealing documentary, Ibrahimovic reveals he was quite the brat growing up with Swedish club Malmo.
Speaking on camera aged 18 on the forthcoming documentary Becoming Zlatan, Ibrahimovic said: “I can be a pain in the ass. I’m hard to get along with.
“When it comes to football, I like to dribble. So sometimes, instead of passing, I dribble. Sure that might annoy the other players, but it’s part of the game.
“Without that, it’s no fun. Football has to be fun. Otherwise it’s not worth playing.”
Ibrahimovic acknowledges that his relentless pursuit for perfection has come from his upbringing he had under his father.
He explained: “I have my dad’s temper. He’s a confident guy, too. He knows what he wants, and he knows what he’s doing.
“But he is very demanding. He pushes me a lot. There was a time when we fought a lot. I just wanted too much.
“Sometimes he can be a bit rough with his words. But that’s good. Because if I’d played a good game, I might think I’ve made it. But he keeps pushing me.
“He said to me once: ‘You’re nobody until you’re somebody in Europe.’”
Ibrahimovic was brought up by his Muslim Bosnian father and Croatian Catholic mum, Jurka Gravic.
Growing up in Sweden, due to his mixed background, he was subjected to racist abuse and was cruelly nicknamd: ‘Zigge – the gypsy.’
Life was tough as the Ibrahimovic family rarely stayed in the same place for more than half a year.
He said: “We moved around a lot. One year, we might live in two different places.
“We’d move every six months. We didn’t like it, as kids, so we complained about the apartment being cold.
“Then we didn’t like the neighbours, and we moved again. But yes, we moved a lot.”
Swedish filmmakers Fredrik and Magnus Gertten first started filming Ibrahimovic in 2000 when he was first brought through for Malmo.
In one clip, he was asked by a teammate about the prospects of playing in English football.
And cocky Ibrahimovic joked: “No. It’s crap.”
The documentary contains several disgruntled teammates who, 16 years ago, slammed the young Ibrahimovic for his selfish play.