Wednesday 18 July 2012

PSG unveil Ibrahimovic and Verratti. Or why do footballers lie?

Ibracadbra! Zlatan Ibrahimovic landed in Paris today to officially complete his move from AC Milan.

Following a press conference Zlatan, who has signed a three-year-contract said to be worth more than the biggest number known to man, went down to the Trocadero for a photoshoot in front of the Eiffel Tower: A fitting spot given that the tower is now the only thing in the French capital bigger than Ibra's ego.

The Swedish motor-mouth didn't disappoint in his press conference, and I've selected a few choice quotes below:
"PSG is on its way to becoming a huge club and I'm delighted to be part of the project."

"This is the start of something big. Not just for French football, not just for European football. It's a dream team."

"[‪PSG‬] have bought the best defender in the world, Thiago Silva. Who doesn't want to be here? This is the future."

"I don't know many Ligue 1 players, but for sure they will know me."

"I don't believe much in religion. Football is a religion and everybody is welcome."

"I'm here to win. And I think we will win. This is another dream come true."
A mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous I'm sure you'll agree. That last quote irked me a bit, because I've never understood why footballers have to lie all the time.

Clearly it wasn't Ibra's childhood ambition to play for PSG, when did he have this dream? On the flight on the way over? I guess some fans lap up those kind of lines, but I feel it's the player taking us for idiots. I don't expect them to say "I'm here for the cash", but they could tone down the rhetoric a little bit.

Earlier Marco Verratti had also been paraded before the assembled media, a very highly-priced hors d'œuvres to whet the appetite ahead of the main course.

"It's an amazing feeling to be rubbing shoulders with players like Ibra, [Ezequiel] Lavezzi and [Javier] Pastore. What an amazing experience. I can’t wait for the season to kick off," said Verratti. I hope for his own sake he's left his autograph book at home otherwise training could be a bit embarrassing.

He continued: "I love Pescara, but in life you have to make choices, this kind of opportunity comes around maybe just once in a lifetime, so I couldn't say no to PSG."

At the moment it seems like no one can.

1 comments:

Anonymous said...

he looked a tad sharky eyed during the interview I watched on tf1 news

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