Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has been the subject of insult by AC Milan's Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the latter’s latest book.
The Swedish striker (40) worked with Pep Guardiola at Barcelona for one infamous season after he joined from Inter Milan in the summer of 2009 - a move that saw Samuel Eto’o go in the opposite direction.
Despite being one of the greatest coaches and one of the greatest strikers, the link up was far from a match made in heaven.
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Ibrahimovic’s game time was cut short with the trio of Lionel Messi, Pedro and David Villa being preferred in attack.
The Swede left Barcelona at the end of the season and Guardiola’s team went on to claim the Champions League as part of an unprecedented sextuple the following campaign.
Somewhat ironically, the striker’s former team, Inter Milan, went on to win the Champions League the very same season he was at Barcelona, meaning he consecutively left teams before they won Europe’s biggest club prize.
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This time together is not fondly looked upon by Ibrahimovic, with the striker previously stating that: “When you buy me, you are buying a Ferrari".
In addition to this, he claimed Guardiola filled him up with diesel instead of premium petrol.
Now in his new book ‘Adrenaline: My Untold Stories’, Ibrahimovic has, once again, targeted Guardiola with another dig.
“The ‘Philosopher’ prefers players who obey without talking back," writes Ibrahimovic in his latest autobiographical release.
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Ibrahimovic made 45 appearances for Barcelona in the 2009/10 season, scoring 21 goals and registering 13 assists in all competitions.
Guardiola is not known for using tall, physically strong strikers such as Ibrahimovic and because of the breakdown between the pair, many have questioned whether such players can fit in the Catalan’s systems.
The City manager will look to prove this is not the case in the upcoming season following the £51.2m acquisition of Borussia Dortmund striker, Erling Haaland.
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Haaland, a fellow Scandinavian, possesses many similarities to Ibrahimovic in his game as well as his confident persona off the field.
City fans will hope they do not see a repeat of what happened in 2009/10 but rather a start of a powerful linkup in the Premier League for several seasons to come.
The Blues supporters got to see him action for the first competative time in yesterday's 3-1 Community Shield loss to Liverpool.
Despite the result, many fans and pundits alike were encouraged by Haaland's movement off the ball.
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With a short period of adaptation, there is no doubts he could become a lethal operator for City for years and years to come.
Topics: Manchester City, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pep Guardiola
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Edward Burnett