In an interview, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the former striker for Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain, shared details about his conversation with Arsene Wenger that led to his potential move to Arsenal falling through, despite having already posed with the club’s number 9 shirt.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, considered one of the greatest strikers of his generation, has had an illustrious career playing for top European clubs such as Barcelona, PSG, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Ajax, and Manchester United.
Despite winning 12 league titles, scoring over 570 senior career goals, and being regarded as one of the best players to have never won the UEFA Champions League, Ibrahimovic revealed that he almost joined Arsenal from Malmo, his Swedish club, when he was just 17 years old.
When asked why the move to Arsenal didn’t materialize, Ibrahimovic shared his experience on Piers Morgan Uncensored: “When I was young, many clubs showed interest in me, and one of them was Arsenal.
So, I went to meet Mr. Arsene Wenger at his office, and I was overwhelmed because I saw players like Dennis Bergkamp, Thierry Henry, Freddie Ljungberg, and Patrick Vieira, whom I had seen on TV before, even though I was already playing at a high level in Sweden.”
Ibrahimovic continued: “But this was different because I was actually there. Last week, I was playing PlayStation with these guys. I spoke with Wenger, and he surprised me because he was taller than I expected.”
Recalling the meeting, Ibrahimovic said, “I entered his office, and we spoke. He wanted to know me, to understand me. I think he’s the type of person who doesn’t just buy a player; he wants to know what he’s getting. In the end, he had an Arsenal shirt with Number 9 and said, ‘We want you to come and do a trial for two weeks.’
“Everything seemed good until he mentioned the trial. I looked at him. Obviously, he was Wenger, and I was nobody at that moment. I said, ‘I don’t do trials.’ He asked, ‘What do you mean?’
“I replied, ‘I don’t do trials. Either you want me or you don’t. Otherwise, why am I here?'” Ibrahimovic explained. “That was my stance. It wasn’t about playing a game; it was about me. ‘No, but you have to come and do a trial.’ And I said, ‘No, no, you don’t understand, I don’t do trials.’ And that was it. I never went to Arsenal.”
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