Bharath Rammr
David Beckham has said that he is extremely glad that Zlatan Ibrahimovic came to Manchester United, a team that he still supports. Beckham came through the ranks at United before going on to become one of the club’s greatest players in recent memory. In his stellar career, the former England captain went on to play with some of the greatest players in the world like Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, and of course, Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Beckham and Ibrahimovic were teammates at Paris St Germain and they seem to have developed quite a friendship during the solitary year. Beckham says that Ibrahimovic is one of the world-class players and it is extremely nice to see him playing in the red of United.
Ibrahimovic was a free signing for Manchester United in the summer after he let his PSG contract expire. He immediately took the Premier League by storm after scoring four goals in as many games at the start of the campaign. His quality and winning mentality was praised immensely by manager Jose Mourinho during this period, hence, it was not surprising that Ibrahimovic was not one of the casualties from the starting line-up even when the striker was going through a terrible patch of form in October.
Since scoring in the Manchester derby back in September, the 35-year-old striker has managed to score only three times in the last 12 matches. Despite this disappointing form, Mourinho says that Ibrahimovic is someone who would give everything to the team. Beckham is not surprised about the comments made by the Portuguese, as he says that the Swede is someone who would even hate to lose a game in training. As quoted by the Express Sport, Beckham said:
“For me, Zlatan is a player who has class, always wants to win, and he proved that when I moved to PSG.
“If he wasn’t winning, he was like one of my children. He would get upset, he would get angry, he would lose it. Not that my kids lose it, but Zlatan does. For me he is a winner.
“He’s still one of the greatest players that has ever played the game – one of the reasons why I’m happy he is now playing at Manchester United, my team. Thanks for that, Zlatan.”
The former England captain has even compared Ibrahimovic’s winning mentality and the inability to take a loss lightly as characters he sees in his children.
Ibrahimovic did not play in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal during the weekend, as he was serving a suspension for accumulating five yellow cards so far this season. It comes as a major disappointment for United as they just recently saw him return to form with two goals against Swansea. Still, the 35-year-old is not expected to be out for long and there is every possibility he could be back in the team for the game against Feyenoord on Thursday. It is the second of four straight home games for the Red Devils.
Despite a disappointing form that has seen them win only one of the last six league matches, Beckham is confident that things will improve at United for the better. The club have not been regular top four contenders since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson in the summer of 2013.
