I Am Zlatan
Next up is a book that I have been so wanting to read for ages I AM ZLATAN, the autobiography of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, lots have been made over years about Zlatan Ibrahimovic apparent attitude towards clubs he's played for, his attitude in training and towards his fellow teammates, most of this Zlatan denies although he does openly admit to thrive off criticism and adversity and he does occasionally overstep the mark on the pitch which has resulted in the odd sending off but that's what in my opinion makes him a superstar he's unpredictable, unmarkable in fact he's an outright genius on the field of play
Ibrahimović was born in Sweden to a Bosnian father, Šefik Ibrahimović, who emigrated to Sweden in 1977, and a Croatian Catholic mother, Jurka Gravić, Growing up Zlatan idolized Brazilian star Ronaldo, he studied his idol and began copying his tricks and moves at every opportunity, Zlatan signed his first contract with his hometown team Malmö in 1996, and moved up to the senior side for the 1999 season of Allsvenskan, Sweden's top-flight league. That season, Malmö finished 13th in the league and were relegated to the second division, but returned to the top flight the following season. On 22 March 2001 it's was announced that Zlatan would sign for Ajax with Malmö agreeing to Ibrahimović's transfer to Amsterdam and in July, Ibrahimović officially joined Ajax for 80 million Swedish kronor (€8.7 million). Zlatan initially struggled at Ajax especially under Co Adriaanse but when he was sacked and replaced by Ronald Koeman things started to change for Zlatan at Ajax and slowly he began establishing himself as a top striker. |
The book then goes on to chart Zlatan's career taking him from Ajax to Juventus to inter to the club he'd dreamed of joining Barca where his relationship with Guardiola was nonexistent to say the least leading to Zlatan joining Milan much to the annoyance of Inters Ultra's.
I Am Zlatan packs no punches and at times is really scathing, especially with comments like these ones about his time at Barcelona "I'd already got the impression that Barcelona was a little like school, or some sort of institution" "To be honest, though, none of the lads acted like superstars, which was strange. Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, the whole gang – they were like schoolboys". "I was boring. Zlatan was no longer Zlatan" "It’s as if you bought a Ferrari, but you’re driving it like a Fiat” No matter what your opinion of the Swede is this book is a brilliant biography of one of the games modern greats, in fact the book was shortlisted for the William Hill sports book of the year 2013 unfortunately which was won by Jamie Reids horse racing book Doped but that just goes to show how good this book actually is, so if you’re a fan of football or just sports books I must insist that you read I Am Zlatan. |