Top Ten Zlatan Quotes!

There’s barely a week goes by that Zlatan Ibrahimovic doesn’t utter something contentious, and the PSG striker was banned for four matches last week after his latest rant at a French match official.

His outburst – which included calling France a “shit country” – came after a recent defeat to Bordeaux and certainly won’t be his last controversial tirade. We take a look at some of his most colourful quotes, ahead of PSG’s crucial Champions League clash with Barcelona tonight.

Rumours persist that the Swede may move to England this summer, but he could have played in the UK a long time ago. He visited Arsenal in 2001 but wasn’t happy when asked to complete a trial. “I turned it down. Zlatan doesn’t do auditions”. He joined Ajax the next day.

Zlatan caused a media frenzy in 2010 after a photo of him and then Barcelona team-mate Gerard Pique caught the duo in a seemingly tender embrace. When questioned by a female reporter as to whether he was gay, Zlatan retorted “Come to my house and you’ll see if I’m gay. And bring your sister”.

The star is, of course, married but reckons his wife got the better deal out of their nuptials. When asked what he’d bought her for her birthday, he replied “Nothing. She already has Zlatan”.

Though happily married he has no qualms about playing up to his former lothario image. A reporter once asked how he got some scars on his face, to which Zlatan responded “you’ll have to ask your wife about that”.

He’s no shrinking violet when it comes to his own talents. When criticised by former Norwegian striker John Carew, he spat that “what Carew does with a football, I can do with an orange”.

He’s also clearly one of the few players not enamoured by Pep Guardiola’s methods, stating “Guardiola was staring at me and I lost it. I thought ‘there is my enemy, scratching his bald head!’. I yelled to him: ‘You have no balls!’ and probably worse things than that”.

He had a relatively unsuccessful spell at Barcelona under Guardiola, aggrieved at being played out of position and asserting that they “bought a Ferrari but drive it like a Fiat”.

Zlatan’s net worth is said to be almost £60 million, following a series of big-money moves and he’s not shy about boasting about his affluence. When asked where he’d live in Paris, following his move to PSG, he said he was “looking for an apartment…but if we do not find anything, then we will buy the hotel”.

Similarly, when asked about rumours he’d bought a powerful new Porsche he countered “absolutely not. I have ordered a plane. It is much faster”.

He has no problem trolling whole clubs either, once putting Liverpool fans’ noses out of joint by claiming he was disappointed Steven Gerrard had never played for “a big club”.