November 03, (THEWILL) – Former Paris Saint-Germain star, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, has claimed that Kylian Mbappe did the right thing for the team but not for himself when he decided to pass up the opportunity to join Real Madrid in the summer.
Mbappe effectively took Ibrahimovic’s space as the club’s primary scorer a year after the Swede, who had 156 goals in four years for PSG, left the side to join Manchester United in 2016. Mbappe, currently at 189 goals, has now surpassed Ibrahimovic in PSG’s all-time leading scorer rankings, and by the conclusion of this season, he will have surpassed Edinson Cavani’s mark of 200 goals as well.
But Ibrahimovic is sure that the Frenchman should not have remained in Paris and rather than choosing to sign a new contract at Parc des Princes, he should have joined Real Madrid as a free agent. The seasoned Swede thought it was more like complacency than ambition.
He said: “Mbappe, as a person I do not know him very well. As a player, he is fantastic. But when you lose discipline you lose your identity. There is a reason why Zidane is Zidane. Mbappe wants to imitate him? That he starts to want to progress. Not to be satisfied.
“He made the right choice for Paris not for himself. Because he put himself in a situation where he is more important than the club. And the club gave him the keys for that. But you are never bigger than a club. But when a child becomes strong, he can easily earn money.”
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.