Zlatan - Contract to be extended

More than happy with this but it was expected. Comfortably our best option up top. We need pace around him.
 
Great news. He has 6 goals in 11 games and in the middle of that is his worse goalless run in 10 years, still a good return.
 
Gooodddd. He's a great presence to have around and a good option as backup (which is hopefully what will happen)
 
Hmm, not over the Moon to be honest.

We shouldn't be paying elite level CF wages to this guy imo.

I'm probably biased, I don't really like him to be honest. But I do think we should be aiming higher for the wages we pay.

He's the highest paid CF in the Premier League ffs. Can't we get someone in their prime for that? Someone a bit more...mobile?
 
Rhyme Animal said:
Hmm, not over the Moon to be honest.

We shouldn't be paying elite level CF wages to this guy imo.

I'm probably biased, I don't really like him to be honest. But I do think we should be aiming higher for the wages we pay.

He's the highest paid CF in the Premier League ffs. Can't we get someone in their prime for that? Someone a bit more...mobile?
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The guy is not as slow as people make out. Besides, his clever movement makes up for that anyway. Sure, he can't run the channels against faster CBs, but most of the time we dominate games so there isn't much space in behind anyway making his pace less of a factor.
 
VeevaVee said:
Gooodddd. He's a great presence to have around and a good option as backup (which is hopefully what will happen)
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that's a pretty damned expensive backup option, though.

What I don't get is why we've done it so soon? Was there some clause that said we had to activate it by the end of November or something?
 
World class striker extends... Still people moan :lol:. Gonna be some red faces in here by the end of the season
 
Rhyme Animal said:
Hmm, not over the Moon to be honest.

We shouldn't be paying elite level CF wages to this guy imo.

I'm probably biased, I don't really like him to be honest. But I do think we should be aiming higher for the wages we pay.

He's the highest paid CF in the Premier League ffs. Can't we get someone in their prime for that? Someone a bit more...mobile?
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It's not impossible he'll take a wage cut next year. Also I reckon there'll be a lot of wages freed up with Schweinsteiger and perhaps Rooney, amongst others, leaving.
 
TrustInJanuzai said:
World class striker extends... Still people moan :lol:. Gonna be some red faces in here by the end of the season
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there's been very little world class about him this season, and he'll be 36 years old next season, and he's on enormous wages.

it's not your typical 'world class striker extends contract' situation in any way.
 
I'm happy with this. Yes he missed some sitters this season, but he's still quality IMO. His goal return is still pretty good and I think he's a real positive influence within the squad.
 
I would have waited till the end of the season before coming with this sort of crap.
 
Massive Spanner said:
there's been very little world class about him this season, and he'll be 36 years old next season, and he's on enormous wages.

it's not your typical 'world class striker extends contract' situation in any way.
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Still fitter and better than the 31 year old captain we are habouring who is on a longer contract and much bigger wages
 
TrustInJanuzai said:
World class striker extends... Still people moan :lol:. Gonna be some red faces in here by the end of the season
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Easy, there were a lot of smiley faces and people being laughed at in the Zlatan thread during the summer when people were concerned about his age and his ability to adapt to the PL. With many a poster convinced he would smash in 25-35 goals this season and be the best striker in the league.

Well he has struggled at times and sadly for us he's unlikely to score 25 goals this season let alone 35. So while i do hope he improves in the 2nd half of the season and scores a bucket load, to be honest i've not seen a world class striker so far.
 
Brilliant news. Our best attacking option by far. Under normal circumstances(his finishing) he would have been on double-digits already. Sloppiness and bad luck aside: physically, technically and mentally he's quite possibly our best outfield player. Seeing as he's shown no clear signs of his age catching up to him, this contract extension is a no-brainer.
 
Good. Get Griezmann alongside him.

Let Zlatan do the holding and Griezmann the running.
 
Massive Spanner said:
that's a pretty damned expensive backup option, though.

What I don't get is why we've done it so soon? Was there some clause that said we had to activate it by the end of November or something?
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It is, but I'm plenty happy if it keeps people of his stature around the club.

I can only imagine it makes us look more attractive to other targets too.

Not sure why it's been done so soon. For stability maybe?
 
Massive Spanner said:
there's been very little world class about him this season, and he'll be 36 years old next season, and he's on enormous wages.

it's not your typical 'world class striker extends contract' situation in any way.
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His hold up play is absolutely world class and he's certainly been involved in pretty much all our best play this season. The last few games he has certainly missed some big chances but that happens with every striker every now and again and Ibrahimovic has proven over his career that those spells are few and far between.

Additionally, I wish people would stop bringing up his age. Yes he's 35 but he's a physical freak that looks as if he's every bit as fit as any player in the league and I don't see that changing by next year. Sure he's not the most mobile but that's why it is fundamental to surround him with pace and movement in the correct tactical setup.

The final point to make is that the wages mean absolutely nothing. Zilch, zero, nada... We are the richest club in the world that can afford to pay every player In the team those wages. That's absolutely not the problem we have right now but it's a convenient excuse for everyone to use. Also bare in mind we paid absolute nothing for him so anything spend on wages is negligible when compared to the cost of buying and equal quality striker (e.g £90 million Higuin)
 
Massive Spanner said:
that's a pretty damned expensive backup option, though.

What I don't get is why we've done it so soon? Was there some clause that said we had to activate it by the end of November or something?
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Its the situation we've left ourselves in to be fair. If we were in a more normal situation rather than a big transition we wouldn't have needed him in the first place.

Rooney should be gone in the summer then we'd be left with just Rashford. Securing Ibra means we can still go out and get a top striker without also worrying about adequote cover.
 
TrustInJanuzai said:
The final point to make is that the wages mean absolutely nothing. Zilch, zero, nada... We are the richest club in the world that can afford to pay every player In the team those wages. That's absolutely not the problem we have right now but it's a convenient excuse for everyone to use. Also bare in mind we paid absolute nothing for him so anything spend on wages is negligible when compared to the cost of buying and equal quality striker (e.g £90 million Higuin)
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Yeah, that's the thing. People would never complain if he for example cost £5M to sign and he got £120.000/week even though it would have cost us more over two years..
 
stevoc said:
Easy, there were a lot of smiley faces and people being laughed at in the Zlatan thread during the summer when people were concerned about his age and his ability to adapt to the PL. With many a poster convinced he would smash in 25-35 goals this season and be the best striker in the league.

Well he has struggled at times and sadly for us he's unlikely to score 25 goals this season let alone 35. So while i do hope he improves in the 2nd half of the season and scores a bucket load, to be honest i've not seen a world class striker so far.
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From what I've seen of Ibrahimovic he's still every bit the world class player we signed. His hold up play is still very good and all our best moves have started or finished with him this season. His finishing the past month has been disappointing for sure but again as mentioned in another post his record over the years shows that happens rarely and never for prolonged periods.

One of our problems is that the current Ibrahimovic is so immobile that he's a cherry on top player. The team, system, tactics all need to be down to a tee to get the best out of ibrah. You might say well if he can only perform in those conditions he's not world class but personally I think that's just down to building a team to suit your players. Overall I just don't see a massive risk in extending the deal either way.
 
Man-United said:
Yeah, that's the thing. People would never complain if he for example cost £5M to sign and he got £120.000/week even though it would have cost us more over two years..
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Yeh agreed, a lot and I mean a lot of people are obsessed with money and it just sways everything they think
 
stevoc said:
Easy, there were a lot of smiley faces and people being laughed at in the Zlatan thread during the summer when people were concerned about his age and his ability to adapt to the PL. With many a poster convinced he would smash in 25-35 goals this season and be the best striker in the league.
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Erm... he's scored 6 in 11 in the league, at that rate he'll be scoring over 20 league goals*. He already has 2 in the cups so my question is....

What are you on about @stevoc ?

*and that's also on the assumption that we don't improve as a team match by match (which is contrary to the evidence) and that Zlatan doesn't improve as he gets to know his surroundings better and better (which is also contrary to past evidence).
 
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It's a good thing, IMO. Really, who cares how much he is paid? There is no salary cap so it makes no difference. I figured he'd score 18-22 goals for us, and he's still on track for that. he's got 6 now, and missed a few I don't think he'll miss again.
 
I'm pretty happy he's extended. If he'd have bagged a couple of those missed chances his record would be highly impressive.

He's worth the money alone for showing the younger guys how to look after themselves properly and he's got a huge will to win, which we seem to lack

I'm much rather invest in a fit ibra than the amount we've flushed down the toilet on Bastian. His fee alone was enough to cover Zlatan's stay here and then some

I'm highly confident that he's much fitter than Rooney for example
 
Better to decide later in the season,I'd say. His goalscoring form may, or may not, improve signifcantly. We seem to be constantly getting our hopes up, going back to Januzaj through to Depay (remember that goal in the CL last season), Martial, Rashford. Ibra was sold on here because of his previous rescord, which is much better than what we've got so far. Let's take our time.
 
You'd think you guys had learned something about giving extensions to players rapidly approaching their list hill to cross over from Rooney.

But by all means, pay crazy money to your backup striker next year.
 
B20 said:
You'd think you guys had learned something about giving extensions to players rapidly approaching their list hill to cross over from Rooney.

But by all means, pay crazy money to your backup striker next year.
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Better than buying someone like Origi or Ings
 
B20 said:
You'd think you guys had learned something about giving extensions to players rapidly approaching their list hill to cross over from Rooney.

But by all means, pay crazy money to your backup striker next year.
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probably earned back in shirt sales, or Chinese aroma yoghurt that Ed Woodward has struck a 200million deal for with Ibra's name on them
 
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