Ronald Koeman has hailed Zlatan Ibrahimovic as ‘one of the best’ and insisted he never had any doubts that Manchester United’s talisman would take the Premier League by storm.
Everton’s manager has put his defence on red alert for a player he knows inside out, having worked with the Swedish superstar for three years when he was in charge of Ajax.
Koeman afforded himself a wry smile when he was asked to divulge stories about what the young striker was like – a passage in his autobiography, I am Zlatan, tells how he was sent home from training by the Dutchman for a showing a bad attitude – but the pair remain good friends.
Ibrahimovic has silenced critics during his first year at Old Trafford but Koeman, who is conscious of the threat the 35-year-old poses to Everton’s defence, never had a moment’s doubt that he would transfer the ability he had shown in Italy, Spain and France to this stage in England.
‘I’m not surprised because he’s really that talented and strong,’ said Koeman. ‘And maybe mentally he’s one of the strongest players what I know. I still admire the boy. I know him really well and he is still showing really well at his age being still so important for the team and scoring goals, showing he’s still one of the best – I have great respect for him.
‘I managed Zlatan when he was young and sometimes also difficult! But, okay, that is normal. I’m also better now to handle for a coach than when I was 19!
‘He was funny but we had a lot of young players. (Rafael) Van der Vaart, (Nigel) De Jong, (John) Heitinga, Mido, Zlatan; really big talents at that time, but all were 19, driving Porsches, driving Ferraris!
‘I met Zlatan three or four times in the last four or five months. If we speak about that time at Ajax, he knows perfectly how he was when he was 19 and how he is now.’
Everton will go to Old Trafford with the same young squad as they took to Anfield on Saturday and Koeman, who plans to visit Seamus Coleman in Ireland next week as he recovers from his horrific leg break, has stood by the comments he made about being proud of the performance against Liverpool.
Tom Davies is expected to continue in midfield and the 18-year-old last signed a new, improved contract that will keep him at Goodison Park until 2022.
‘At the moment he’s that young player making the best progress in the last few months,’ said Koeman. ‘If we can keep that kind of player I think it is a really good signal to everyone.’
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