Big rumours have arisen early this week that Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic is set to join Arsenal for a fee of around £11m.
Zlatan has reportedly had enough in the French capital, and with a year left on his contract, PSG are likely to want to cash in on him rather than letting him go on a free. He is 33, but will no doubt be a big improvement on Arsenal’s forward line.
Liverpool and Chelsea have also showed interest in acquiring his services, and there are question marks over Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger going ahead with the deal, as this would be quite out of character for him.
Arsene did nearly sign Ibrahimovic though, back in 2000 when he was a young 19 year old. But when speaking back in 2012, the player explained the move wasn’t completed as Wenger wanted his to have a trial. It sounded like he definitely would have signed if this wasn’t the case.
“Arsene gave me the famous red and white jersey – the No 9 shirt with Ibrahimovic on it and I was so pleased I even posed for a picture wearing it.
“It was a fantastic moment for me. Arsenal had a great team then and here was an Arsenal shirt made just for me.
“So then I waited for him to convince me that I should join Arsenal. But he didn’t even try.
“He never actually made me a serious offer, it was more, ‘I want to see how good you are, what kind of player you are. Have a trial’.
“I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘No way, Zlatan doesn’t do auditions’.
“I thought ‘You either know me or you don’t and if you don’t know me you can’t really want me’.”
I think we can be absolutely certain there would be no trial period this time and it’s likely he’ll be Wenger’s number 1 striker, even though he’s approaching the dying embers of his career.
Writer’s View: Arsenal fans should be crying out for this signing to happen. Many will argue that he’s too old, but this is exactly the sort of player, like with Sanchez last season, that Arsenal need to make a serious challenge for the league title.
Just having someone of that stature in the squad will give all the players a huge lift, especially the likes of Olivier Giroud who doesn’t seem to need to do a lot these days to consistently lead the line for the Gunners.
I’m not an Arsenal fan, but I’d love to see him at the Emirates.
It’s his most likely destination for me, he won’t want to play second fiddle to Diego Costa, and I don’t think Liverpool are as attractive employers as they once were. The Gooners fans will love him!