Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s warning to Erik ten Hag comes from knowing the difference between Ajax and Manchester United | OneFootball

Former Manchester United star Zlatan Ibrahimovic has questioned Erik ten Hag’s credentials as manager of the club.

Speaking on Talk TV via The Sun, Ibrahimovic said:

“Coming from Ajax to United as he did is a big difference — I have been in both clubs.

“You have a different kind of discipline.

“Ajax is a talented club. They have the best talents in the club. They don’t have big stars.

“What is the experience of this coach? Young talents, he comes to United, it is a different mentality. The players there are supposed to be big stars. I don’t think you give the same treatment.”

The legendary striker, who celebrates his 42nd birthday today, added that “with the situation of the coach, I think he is living two different situations now” and that whilst you need a plan, you also need to be sure that your team is on board with and willing to follow that plan.

Ibrahimovic’s words speak to the heart of an issue with modern football management, which is the power imbalance between managers and players.

Sir Alex Ferguson was a disciplinarian and always said that no player is bigger than the club. The likes of Jaap Stam, Dwight Yorke, David Beckham and Roy Keane were all examples of players who were dropped or sold in order to maintain his iron rule.

On the one hand, United have been crying out for years for a manager with a similarly disciplined approach and Ten Hag has duly delivered.

However, as can be seen in the case of Jadon Sancho, a combination of factors – long and lucrative contracts, multimillion pound values and corporate owners who will put money ahead of football all combine to undermine the manager’s power to simply drop or offload a player.

In this example, Sancho has three years left on a £250,000 per week contract and has been banished from the team by Ten Hag. If he refuses to conform to the manager’s demands, he could choose to be paid £1 million a month for the next three years to sit at home and play on his Playstation. But the United board would see that as money lost, so ultimately the pressure would fall back on Ten Hag to resolve the problem.

Ibrahimovic knows about egos in football – his was certainly one of the biggest – and he also knows from first-hand experience the huge gulf in mentality between the two clubs. One of the greatest goals of his football career was at Ajax, scored in 2004 when Ten Hag was just starting out on his managerial career at FC Twente. Happy birthday, Ibra!