🌡 Hot Take: Zlatan is incredible ... but his lion act is tedious! | OneFootball

For us 90s babies, we were fortunate enough to grow up with so many iconic footballers at our fingertips.

We would mimic Ronaldo Nazário in the playground. Try the Ronaldinho elástico for hours. Pull our socks over our knees like Thierry Henry.

Zlatan Ibrahimović was no different.

In terms of footballing ability and consistency, only Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo have bettered the Swede throughout his freakish career.

After breaking through at Malmö as this hot-headed, mercurial teenager, Zlatan has graced the best teams in Europe – collecting league titles in nine out of 10 seasons between 2006 and 2016.

As of this moment, he is the only player to have scored on his Premier League, Serie A, LaLiga and Ligue 1 debut.

Since turning 30, Zlatan has scored 314 goals for club and country – 59% of his entire career total.

So why does he seem hell-bent on ruining this legacy with cringy, unoriginal lion rubbish at every opportunity?

Sport is no stranger to eccentric personalities and to maintain a profile at the highest level, you need an edge.

But there is a difference between an edge and recycling cheap quotes to be plastered across social media channels.

The most frustrating thing is that Zlatan can let his football do the talking.

That solo strike against NAC Breda; his half-volley that practically broke the net against Anderlecht; the absurd debut goal against LAFC.

Hands up who thought “what are you doing?” when he geared up for that 35-yard bicycle kick against England – even with Joe Hart stranded.

How many 6ft 5in tall strikers have played the game, with the flexibility of a martial artist and the grace of a ballet dancer?

You can count on one hand the players capable of truly iconic moments throughout spells of superhuman consistency, all while galvanising those around them and Ibrahimović is one of them.

These are the memories we associate with a brilliant player but now they are in danger of becoming lost in repetitive quote churning and lazy marketing.

Ghostwriter David Lagercrantz admitted that he fabricated quotes to create “a literary illusion of Zlatan” within the striker’s autobiography.

Bending the lines of truth is nothing new but there’s something quite forced about an autobiography being sold by its author as a work of fiction.

It’s part of this constant desire to keep fulfilling an image of Ibrahimović that we just don’t need.

Oh! What’s he said now? [Insert quote here about Zlatan not needing to win the Champions League because he was too good for that trophy].

Classic Zlatan! Am I right guys? You can’t not love this guy! #EPIC

We have been lucky to watch a supremely talented individual across a career spanning two decades.

This is the Ibrahimović we should remember.

But with each quote, comes an eye roll and it’s all incredibly tedious.

Keep pushing that lion persona all you want, Zlatan, but is that faux nonsense worth losing your pride over?