Opinion: Los Angeles, Welcome to Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Meet the new king of MLS.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2017. Photo by Kieran McManus/BPI/REX/Shutterstock

“Los Angeles, welcome to Zlatan,” are the words Zlatan Ibrahimovic used to announce his arrival to Major League Soccer and LA Galaxy. If there is any soccer player who can pull off these words, it’s him. C. Ronaldo or Messi just wouldn’t have enough confidence.

At the age of 36, you would think that Zlatan Ibrahimovic has come to the United States in order to cash in on his name and will just be one of many European soccer superstars who are unable to make an actual impact in MLS. Don’t worry Galaxy fans; it isn’t in Ibra’s nature to cheat you like that. He will score tons of goals, make the opponent’s defenders crazy, and put the fans in frenzy with his spectacular moves.

During his career, Zlatan scored often and scored plenty, with the trophies following close. He played 730 games for eight different clubs and scored 421 goals. It only took him four years to become Paris Saint-Germain’s all-time leading scorer. He won 33 club trophies and has 11 domestic league titles in four countries. There is no player out there that has managed to do such a thing. Different style of football is played in Netherlands, Italy, Spain, France, England but it didn’t matter for him. Zlatan would come and conquer.

It is really hard not to like Ibra. His outspoken personality, his confidence, and the things he shows on the soccer pitch are contagious. On one occasion he wanted to show his support to the United Nations World Food Programme by tattooing the names of 50 starving people from around the world on his torso before the game while playing for Paris Saint-Germain. He scored in the second minute of the match and took off his shirt in order to remind people that the world hunger is still killing people all over the world.

So what if he is 36 years old now? He has already shown that he is more fit than most 30-year-olds and that even injuries can’t stop him. Most players would have called it quits after an ACL tear at the age of 35, but not Zlatan. He is hungry for more, hungry to show the world what they will be missing once he decides to retire. And you can bet he will be hungry and motivated when he arrives in the United States. Major League Soccer will be another playground where Ibra will look to show that he is among the best.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the best player that came to MLS after David Beckham, and it could be argued that Ibra is a better soccer player than him as well. MLS will probably not get this big of a star in the next decade unless C. Ronaldo or Messi decide to come on board. So congratulations Galaxy. You got yourself a title with this move. Zlatan will deliver it, one way or another. When in doubt, just look at the clip below.

Jasmin can write about almost everything expect about himself. All you need to know is that he likes music, Nutella stuffed pancakes and sleeping till noon on Sundays.