Injured Manchester United striker, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has disclosed that he would like to assume the No. 10 role upon his return to action.
The ex-Sweden captain said he would not mind playing in a different position now that Romelu Lukaku assumed the No. 9 role this season.
Ibrahimovic said, “To me, No. 10 is the star. The one who makes the difference, gets noticed, wins the matches and is the leader.
“And I see myself in that position but it is not something that is given to you; it is just something you are. That’s just the way it is.
“To be honest, it is like a trigger for me coming back from that injury because I wore the No. 10 in the Swedish national team and PSG.
“I would have worn it at Inter, but I soon moved to Barcelona. I wanted it in Milan but took another number out of respect. In Ajax I didn’t have it.
“I feel like a 10 and I stand for No. 10. It will go down in history that I always had No. 10.”
He added, “I tried to take down a ball with my chest and timed the landing wrong. I stuck my legs out and landed completely wrong. The leg went backwards and then it was pulled out. I have never been hurt, but then I felt I swallowed my tongue. It was a strange feeling that I had never known before.
“I told myself it’s just a bang-up. But when I got up, I felt that the leg was not in balance. In the locker room they started to check the leg, but without an X-ray it was impossible to say exactly what the problem was. It turned out to be a cruciate ligament injury.
“Thoughts started spinning in my head. What’s happening? It’s a month before the season is over.
“I’m 35 years old; what can I do? What does the future hold?
“Instead of focusing on one thing at a time, like normally, a lot of things were spinning around in my mind.”
