Ibrahimovic says Guardiola ‘is not a man’ as he ponders future

Zlatan Ibrahimovic sent further barbs in Pep Guardiola’s direction during a wide-ranging interview with CNN.

Paris Saint-Germain star Ibrahimovic will make a poignant return to his hometown club Malmo when the French champions travel to Sweden for a Champions League match on Wednesday.

Ibrahimovic is likely to be welcomes as a hero having claimed numerous major honours across the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and France since leaving his homeland 14 years ago, although he does not reserve similar affection for his former Barcelona boss Guardiola.

The 34-year-old clashed with the current Bayern Munich coach during a one-season spell at Camp Nou in 2009-10 and he described Guardiola as a “spineless coward” in his autobiography – a view that does not appear to have greatly softened.

“Whatever happened, as a coach he was fantastic,” Ibrahimovic said. “As a person, I have no comments about that. That is something else.

“He is not a man. There’s nothing more to say.”

Other former coaches are seen more favourably by Ibrahimovic, most notably Jose Mourinho and Carlo Ancelotti, who took charge of the enigmatic striker at Inter and PSG respectively.

“[Ancelotti is] a fantastic coach. As a person he was amazing,” he said.

“[Mourinho is] the master brain, mastermind. He know what he needs to do to win.”

Ibrahimovic’s contract in Paris expires at the end of this season and he could opt to hang up his boots after captaining Sweden at Euro 2016.

Nevertheless, the ever-confident frontman does not believe his powers are on the wane and discussed the possibility of moving to the Premier League.

“I was close two times [to joining the Premier League] – Arsenal one time. [Manchester] City one time. But it never happened,” he explained.

“I think there is a lot of talk from today until the Euro – there will be a lot of talks.

“You never know. Maybe I stop on top. Maybe I will do something nobody else has done. You never know.”

Ibrahimovic added: “I’m like the wine – the older I get, the better I get. If I decide this will be my last year, maybe it is.

“If I decide, it will be my last contract, I decide that. Nobody else. So I will decide when the moment is there.”