Ibrahimovic advised Mbappe to sign for Real Madrid

Also told PSG not to sell

Posted Thursday, December 02, 2021 by Marca.com

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has never been afraid to speak his mind and he has told of how he once advised Kylian Mbappe to sign for Real Madrid, although he also then warned Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi not to sell him.

The Swedish striker spent four years in Paris, but he left a year before Mbappe arrived from Monaco.

"It's true that I advised [Mbappe] to leave the club," Ibrahimovic told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

"He needs a more structured environment, like the one at Real Madrid.

"But then I told the PSG president not to sell him."

In the interview, Ibrahimovic also touched on various other big moments in his career, such as his decision to return to Italy after a spell in MLS where he admits he considered retiring.

"After seeing a documentary about [Diego] Maradona I had decided to go to Napoli to win the Scudetto," said Ibrahimovic.

"I was tired of the USA, I even thought of giving it all up but [Mino] Raiola told me 'you're crazy, you have to go back to Italy'. He agreed everything with Napoli, but then [Aurelio] De Laurentiis sacked [Carlo] Ancelotti and everything changed.

"Then I asked Mino, 'which is the worst team I can change?' He replied, 'Milan lost 5-0 in Bergamo [against Atalanta] yesterday' and I said, 'Decided, let's go to Milan."

Ibrahimovic's Barcelona spell

The 40-year-old forward, who has 33 goals in 58 games since returning to Milan in December 2019, has a CV which boasts many of the biggest names in European club football, including Barcelona, although his spell at the Camp Nou was short-lived and he believes that Pep Guardiola didn't know what to do with him.

"Guardiola never understood me. He wanted to program everything I did," said Ibrahimovic.

"I tried to make plays on instinct, but then I thought about what he wanted and I changed. That way, I was thinking too much.

"He doesn't like players with character. I had become a problem and as he couldn't resolve it, I resolved it by leaving."