'Ibrahimovic is an absolute winner and not scared of anything' - Beenhakker
The man to took the Swedish striker to Ajax in his younger days admits to having 'massive respect' for the now Manchester United forward.
Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is ‘an absolute winner’ in the eyes of the man who spotted his potential and took him to Ajax as a teenager, Leo Beenhakker.
The Swedish striker was an enigmatic youngster making his way in the game at Malmo when he first registered on the radar of a leading European club.
Beenhakker was convinced even then that Ibrahimovic was destined for big things and is not at all surprised to have seen a rough diamond polished into a global superstar.
At the age of 35, a mercurial talent is still doing the business on a Premier League stage, with there seemingly no stopping a man with an all-encompassing desire to be the best.
"He was 19 years old when I went to see him, had my first talks with him and I realised I was dealing with an absolute winner," Beenhakker told De Telegraaf.
"I’m pleased to say that I was not wrong all those years ago.
"I take my hat off to him and I take a deep bow for what Zlatan is still doing every week as a Manchester United striker. I have such massive respect for him.
"He keeps on scoring goals and he can break Messi’s record for the amount of goals in 2016. And at the age of 35! In the Premier League!
"But even if he does not score, I will still take a deep bow. I can hardly put in words what this man has accomplished in his career".
Beenhakker’s eye for potential proved to be correct, as Ibrahimovic helped Ajax to two Eredivisie titles before departing for Juventus, but the Dutchman admits he had trouble convincing the club’s board to sanction a £7 million deal.
"The Ajax board members asked me 10 times if I was sure I wanted to spend eight million euros on a young player from a tough neighbourhood in Malmo," he said.
"I said, ‘Yes, yes, yes’.
"I knew he was a difficult character when we found him in Sweden. But give me 11 players with a difficult character, and I will be champion of any league.’ I saw the winning mentality in that boy’s eyes the moment I met him.
"He looked me straight in the eyes and wasn’t scared of anything – not scared of moving to a country where he couldn’t speak the language, not scared of playing in front of 50,000 fans every week and not scared of the adventure".
Ibrahimovic has netted 17 times in 26 appearances for Manchester United this season, with his efforts helping to keep the Red Devils in contention for a top-four finish and through to the latter stages of the EFL Cup and Europa League.