Zlatan Ibrahimovic must accept his playing career is coming to an end before he damages his legacy

Although he is a great personality and technical talent, Zlatan Ibrahimovic does not realize that he is quickly approaching the end of a long and difficult career at the top of the game, without ever having won the biggest football awards such as the Ballon d’Or or the Champions League.

As a teenager, his fans grew up watching this sleek, playful youth without a tattoo at Ajax and Juventus, but where they are now with their lives, the 41-year-old still disguises himself on the pitch as a teenager at the start of his career. career.

Now comes a time of reflection, and his best friends, his wife and AC Milan together will offer Zlatan the chance to stay at the club, but only if he chooses to hang his shoes on the hook. Of course he has the last word, but it is hoped that the Swedish legend will come to the conclusion that it is time to conclude his career in competitive football.

Ibrahimovic is a legend of the game and will always be remembered as such, but his obsessive desire to keep playing only damages the legacy he has created for himself. If he continues to play, he risks erasing everything he has achieved in the past with Ajax, Juventus, Inter, Barcelona, ​​PSG, Manchester United and even LA Galaxy.

Today, Ibrahimovic cannot play a minute in Serie A, and instead spends his time making videos with Monza president Silvio Berlusconi. Where he was once the first name on the star-studded guest lists at music festivals, he now has to settle for a part in advertisements and commercials.

No longer present on the pitch, his time as a player is over and he is now more of a mascot for the Serie A champions.

IBRA REFUSES TO ACCEPT HE’S AGING

AC Milan owe Ibrahimovic a huge debt, and the charismatic attacker played his part when the Rossoneri won the Scudetto in 2021-22, but he’s not the same player he once was, and like Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray, he refuses to believe that he is aging.

His knees hurt and he claims to get up in the morning nervous about what will happen to his body, but his love for the game far outweighs the logical part of his brain telling him to retire to go.

Zlatan has probably never read Wilde’s classic novel and therefore doesn’t realize that even for players of his caliber, youth and beauty will have to run out one day. The series winner he once was can no longer cut it at the highest level.

Ibrahimovic comes from a tumultuous past, but he must realize that he is no longer a youngster growing up in Sweden, but a grown man who risks destroying everything he has made for himself.

Alessandro Del Piero, Roberto Baggio and Francesco Totti all understood this, and yet none of them had been itching for as long as Ibrahimovic.

WHAT WAITING FOR ZLATAN NOW?

Ibrahimovic is an unsustainable economic burden for Milan, but his charismatic personality can be a bonus. Supporting and cheering the team from the sidelines – while making several million dollars a year – can encourage and invigorate his teammates, but it is an outdated privilege that he is given more on the basis of gratitude than merit.

But Ibrahimovic will turn 42 in 2023 and he will never be 100 percent fit again. Paolo Maldini will certainly try to make it clear to him that while that gratitude is still there, it is not infinite.

His future is now like a puzzle; He has amassed enough wealth to spend the rest of his life as a philanthropist, even playing a part in Mino Raiola’s agency or as an actor at the Cinecittá film studios in Rome.

However, he could also choose to return to Sweden and move into management, but whatever his next challenge, he will surely find a way to put himself back in the spotlight.