How To Get Yourself Transferred, by Zlatan.

While everyone waits for the Cristiano Ronaldo – Madrid greasy love embrace to whip into a furor, another superstar is quietly brewing himself a nice little transfer standoff as well. Zlatan Ibrahimovic, he of Team Zlatan, has been not-quite-subtly leaving hints that he wants to go elsewhere this summer – likely Spain – to test his skill set. That’s all fine and well – most footballers do so eventually, as the era of the one club man is coming to a close.

But with ownership and Mourinho not ready to cut the cord, he’s having to remove the veil from his intentions.

This weekend Inter had the chance to wrap up the Serie A title away to Chievo – a team which is inexplicably worse at home than on the road…and they’re still poor on the road. Suffice it to say, the championship looked likely. Zlatan, however, was suspended and thus unable to play. And with this free weekend he decided to return home to Malmo, where he took in some shopping while his teammates played a game.

Normally this is a non-issue. Many suspended footballers take the weekend off as just that. The problem is the circumstances: his team had a damn good chance to celebrate a title. You could even say they were the favorites.

And while the parade will eventually be nice, there’s little intimacy amongst thousands when it’s down to the contributions of a few. It’s not about the club or the title itself but his teammates and the fact that he is Inter – far and away their best player.

So this is, though being slightly swept under the rug, a pretty big snub. Even worse than Ronaldo’s display of petulance on the weekend, if you ask me. (And I happen to like Zlatan, inexplicably, which is something.) All of which has garnered discussion as to its meaning. Is this his way of distancing himself and forcing a transfer? Very well could be. No individual is above the team and he certainly acts the part, which may in fact get him sent packing to Spain this summer.

But at least it’s a step above flying to Brazil and declaring one’s self depressed before partying with transvestites and signing with Flamengo two weeks later. So that’s something for Inter, right? Baby steps.

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Category: World Football