Zlatan Ibrahimovic has continued his war of egos with Eric Cantona by promising to eclipse the Manchester United legend and become the “God of Manchester”.
As Sky Sports reports, Cantona, who was nicknamed ’The King’ during his time at Old Trafford, greeted Ibrahimovic’s arrival earlier this summer by claiming that he could become Prince.
And now the Swede has responded in this game of self-aggrandizing oneupmanship by saying that he has no plans of being a mere King or Prince, but rather a God at United.
“I admire Cantona and I heard what he said,” Ibrahimovic is quoted as saying in Swedish paper Aftonbladet, via Sky Sports. “But I won’t be King of Manchester. I will be God of Manchester.”
What next? Cantona to insist that he is the ‘Messiah of Manchester’? And then Ibrahimovic to legally change his name to ‘Mr. Manchester’ and get his own string of beer adverts?
Ibrahimovic, 34, would have to do an awful lot in his Red Devils swansong to gain Cantona’s cult hero status. The Frenchman was the catalyst behind United’s early Premier League dominance.
Cantona won four Premier League titles with United, two FA Cup trophies and was named PFA Players’ Player of the Year, and FWA Footballer of the Year during his time at Old Trafford.
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