Not the best of mates.
It is no secret that Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Pep Guardiola did not get one during their brief, fiery season together.
The Swede was brought in as, what many at the club hoped, would be the final piece of the jigsaw for Pep’s ever-improving team. The plan went up in flames as Ibrahimovic clashed with the coaching staff and established players.
Helping to fan the flames, according to many at Barcelona, was Ibrahimovic’s agent, Mino Raiola, who also looks after Paul Pogba.
In an interview with reporters about Pogba’s proposed move from Juventus to Barcelona, club president Josep Maria Bartomeu gave an insight into Ibrahimovic’s disastrous tenure at the Nou Camp.
He told reporters, ‘I know agent Mino Raiola very well having negotiated with him before. I dealt with him over Ibrahimovic in 2010, for instance.
‘I had many meetings with Mino. In one, he told me: ‘Ibra will punch Pep one of these days.’
Of course, the pair have previous. In the striker’s recent autobiography, he detailed a dressing room storm where he confronted Guardiola after Barcelona had been beaten in the Champions League semi-final by Inter Milan.
He recalled, ‘I completely lost it, and you might have expected Guardiola to say a few words in response, but he’s a spineless coward. He just picked up the metal box [that I had kicked], like a little caretaker, and then left, never to mention it again, not a word.’
Indeed, Ibrahimovic asked his agent to actively pursue a transfer to Barcelona’s reviled rivals Real Madrid before he eventually wound up at AC Milan.
As for securing Pogba’s services, Bartomeu remains wary of the players uber-agent.
‘Mino is a very friendly and very funny guy but one must look at his pocket,’ he said. ‘He makes a living ridiculously well. He is a specialist at players changing teams.’
Hat-tip: Daily Mail
