Zlatan Ibrahimovic thinks Paris ahould unveil a statue of himself to replace the Eiffel Tower after the city’s Musée Grévin honoured the Swede with a waxwork on Monday.
The Swede became only the second footballer – after Pelé – to be immortalised by the museum, which has acknowledged his exploits for Paris Saint-Germain, where Ibrahimovic has helped the club to back-to-back titles since arriving in 2012.
“It’s a big honour to have a statue in a great museum like the Grévin. I am very happy with it. The people can get really close to the statue and that was the objective,” Ibrahimovic told RMC. “The next step? I don’t know … Maybe replacing the Eiffel Tower with an Ibrahimovic statue …
“It’s an incredible feeling to get a statue at the Musée Grévin. The statue looks very focused, just like myself out there on the pitch. I can only be grateful for the fantastic job done. I am very proud to get this sort of recognition, especially as a Swede.”
He’s probably joking about the Eiffel Tower, but with an ego like Ibrahimovic’s you can never tell. Here, culled mainly from his entertaining autobiography, are some of his more memorable quotes.
When Arsene Wenger invited him to take a trial…
“Arsene Wenger asked me to have a trial with Arsenal when I was 17. I turned it down. Zlatan doesn’t do auditions.”
Asked by a female reporter about rumours he was gay…
“Come over to my house with your sister, baby, and I’ll show you who’s gay!”
When asked what he got his wife for her birthday…
”Nothing, she already has Zlatan.”
Of his feud with Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola…
“Then Guardiola started his philosopher thing. I was barely listening. Why would I? It was advanced bullshit about blood, sweat and tears, that kind of stuff.”
Asked about Lionel Messi, a former teammate at Barca…
“Lionel Messi is awesome. He’s unbelievable, but I don’t really know him. We are totally different. He came to Barça as a 13-year old. He’s raised in that culture and has no problems with that ‘school’ shit. In the team, the play is all around him, pretty naturally actually. He’s brilliant, but now I had arrived [at Barca] and scored more goals than him.”
Asked to predict the outcome of Sweden’s World Cup play-off tie against Portugal…
“Only God know…You’re talking to him now.”
After Sweden failed to qualify for last summer’s World Cup…
“One thing is for sure, a World Cup without me is nothing to watch so it is not worthwhile to wait for the World Cup.”