Manchester United manager, Jose Mourinho, has revealed that he needed Zlatan Ibrahimovic last summer, because the club lacked “super personalities”.
Ibrahimovic arrived at Old Trafford last summer as a free agent from Paris Saint-Germain and has made an immediate impact.
The Swede has has scored 26 goals in all competitions and Mourinho has explained why it was important the 35-year-old joined.
“Manchester United no longer has the super personalities of the likes of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes or Roy Keane,” he told France Football.
“There is Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick, who are the last faces of this generation, and there is a new group of players that has to adapt.
“That’s why it was important for me to get Zlatan. In this team he had, without being English, without knowing the culture of the club, the personality and the profile to be more.”
The Portuguese also talked about his coaching methods and says he always wants to have control of the dressing room.
“You have to adapt to the reality of the club, its needs and its demands,” he added.
“It is called being intelligent. The priority is to establish relations of peace and love in a group, to create stability.
“From a psychological point of view, the stronger empathy in a group, the more consistent the relationship between players, and the more you are ready. The “mind game”, which involves trying to manipulate someone psychologically via the media, is a way to create a state of mind, but it is most effective when you have a team full of personalities ready to absorb this kind of speech.
“At Inter, I was like a fish in the water in this area. I had Marco Materazzi, Ivan Cordoba, Ibrahimovic, Diego Milito, Thiago Motta – guys who were willing to follow me everywhere . After that, it’s another thing to work at a club where players do not have the same profile. So before you go in a different direction, you first need to understand the people you work with.”
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