16 August 2023 , 06:00
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic has never been one to shy away from saying exactly what he thinks, as Manchester United's iconic 'class of 92' found out back in 2019.
The Swedish football legend spent two years at Old Trafford from 2016 to 2018 and in that time helped fire the Red Devils to both Carabao Cup and Europa League glory. If he had just left it there, Ibrahimovic would be remembered more fondly, but he soured his legacy with his remarks regarding the group of club legends.
Ibrahimovic's comments were pointed at the likes of David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, Paul Scholes and Phil Neville. The striker was leaping to the defence of former team-mate Paul Pogba, who was still at United at the time, though the controversial Swede had been gone a year.
The recently retired icon insisted that group of aforementioned United legends should be called the 'circle of Ferguson' in reference to their old manager Sir Alex Ferguson and also claimed that they only ever speak up to complain.
Ibrahimovic felt that Pogba was the subject of unfair comments from the United icons and hit back, explaining: "With Pogba, he was with United when he was young, then he went out and he came back. And in the circle of Ferguson, they don’t like that. Because they stayed all their life under Ferguson and they never moved from Ferguson.
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"And they didn’t even talk if Ferguson didn’t tell them to open their mouth. So now if they are talking, I don’t know whether Ferguson gave them permission or not." As expected, the comments did not go down well with the United legends in question. Giggs was the one to issue a public response and the Welshman was particularly cheeky with his retort.
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Zlatan Ibrahimovic spent two years at Man United (PA)"When you've played over 2,000 games between us, we’re going to have an opinion," the ex-United winger explained. "Sometimes positive and sometimes negative but I don’t think that has any bearing on results or anything.
"We’re supporters of the club together with other ex-players who are on TV or radio, that’s what football is about, having different opinions. “I think there’s only Nicky [Butt, United's head of academy at the time] who’s connected with the club. But obviously, he [Ibrahimovic] knows more about the club than us."
Those Ibrahimovic comments weren't even the most damaging to his standing in the eyes of the Old Trafford faithful. In late 2021, he blasted United for their “small, closed mentality” and recalled how he had £1 deducted from his wages for drinking a fruit juice from the mini bar on an away trip.