5 facts about Zlatan Ibrahimovic that you should know

Having played in Sweden with Malmo, in Italy with both Inter Milan and AC Milan, Spain with Barcelona and currently in France with PSG, with just his name being said, Zlatan evokes various footballing memories for his fans.Considered as one of the most exciting players in the world, not a day would go by without remembering a Zlatan moment and at the age of 32, Ibrahimovic has now become an iconic figure in the Parisian outfit.Being that one player about whom people want to know everything, here, in this slideshow, we bring you such five rare facts about Zlatan.

#1 He nearly joined Southampton and Manchester City

Following the 2000-01 season with Malmo, Ibrahimovic joined the Eredivisie runner-up Ajax for a fee of €8.7 million. He didn't seem to enjoy his first season with the Dutch giants, often finding himself in the Ajax dugout under the then Head Coach of Co Adriaanse.

In an interview in 2013, Zlatan unfolded the secret of how close he was in joining the struggling Premier League side Southampton on a loan deal.

This was what the striker said – “They wanted to take me from Ajax after I had a difficult first year. My manager said: 'You go to Southampton.' I said: 'Is that the only option I have?' I had confidence problems and I had a big ego also.”

“At that time, I thought of Ajax as the top. I had to go somewhere even more at the top. In my mind, I felt that to go from Ajax to Southampton, with all respect to Southampton, I would be taking a step-down,” he added.

“I had the patience and continued to train hard. The second year was better, the third year was even better and then Juventus came. I thought 'now we're talking.”

With 24 appearances in his first season at the Amsterdam Arena, Ibrahimovic scored six goals. This remained as the lowest tally of goals, scored by the Swedish striker after having played for a minimum of 10 games for any club.

Ibrahimovic also indicated that City showed their part of interest in him too when he had left Barcelona back in 2011, revealing: "When I was forced to leave Barcelona by Pep Guardiola in 2011, sure I knew all about the incredible things that had happened at Manchester City and all the money that seemed to be there since the crew from the UAE had taken over.”

“City could surely become big within a few years. But I’d soon turn 29. I didn’t have time for long-term plans and money was never a big thing. I wanted to go to a club that could be good now and there was no club with a history like AC Milan,” he recalled.

#2 He stole his assistant manager\'s bicycle

Malmo’s youth side was mostly made up of the middle and high-class Swedish kids. They lived in big mansions and were driven into the training ground by their luxury transport facilities. Zlatan, who lived in a block in Rosengard did not have such facilities to enjoy on. He always had to cycle on the way to the training ground.

On an unfortunate day, Zlatan found his bike to be stolen shortly after the training had ended. His sight fell on the other bike that was parked outside the dressing room.

Having stolen the bike, he never parked the cycle anywhere near to the training ground with a fear of the owner able to recognize it.

Three days after the incident, the boys were called in for a meeting with the staffs in a state of confusion. Seemingly, it was the Assistant Manager’s bike that Zlatan had stolen.

#3 The Zlatan Court

Born to a Swedish father and a Croatian mother, Ibrahimovic grew up in the city of Rosengard, Malmo district. Receiving a pair of boots, a six-year-old Zlatan started playing football on a small pitch in the courtyard of the Cronmans vag, the place where he resided back then.

In 2007, the old pitch that Zlatan played on during his childhood was revived with a new lift after Nike had transformed that small pitch into a modern five-a-side court, using the recycled athletic shoes.

With an impression of Ibrahimovic’s footprint and autograph in a star-shaped impression in the ground that gets illuminated when dark, an exceptional writing, “Har finns mitt hjarta. Har finns min historia. Har finns mitt spel. Ta det vidare. Zlatan”, meaning “Here is my heart. Here is my story. Here is my play. Take it further. Zlatan.” in English is found on the way to the entrance of the pitch.

The Zlatan Court.

#4 His name in the dictionary

Having already written his name large in the country’s sporting history, Zlatan’s name can also now be found in the pages of a Swedish dictionary.

In Sweden’s forthcoming way of honouring their enigmatic footballing hero and icon, the Swedish Language Council in 2012 added the verb, “Zlatanera” – which in English means “to dominate” in its national dictionary.

The verb "to Zlatan" was originally invented in “Les Guignols”, a literature-based TV show in France, the city where Ibrahimovic currently plays for Paris Saint Germain. The word, since then has been in common use in Swedish.

To recognise this, the Swedes have even acknowledged the original French spelling of ‘Zlataner’, simply tweaking to create ‘Zlatanera’ and officially defined it as ‘from the French: to dominate on and off the field.’

#5 Predicted his own future

Be it now or then, Zlatan always does the things that he wants to do. In 1997, a 16-year-old Zlatan was assigned an English project on the topic where he was supposed to write about where he would be in five years of time.

“He wrote that he would be a professional football player in Italy, make big money and own a villa by the sea, and be rich as a troll,” as the teacher recalls now, and boy did he fullfill his dreams.

Just as he wrote in the assignment, Zlatan went on to help Malmo in getting promoted to the first division of the Swedish football, spent three seasons with Ajax, joined the Italian giants Inter Milan and at the same time, was an integral part of the national squad.

Zlatan also scored a brace against Fortuna Sittard in 2001, as stated by him before the match thus, making his predictions go the right way once again. Besides describing his dream woman to be independent, a 21-year-old Zlatan also stated that he would have two children in the future with both being sons.