Zlatan Ibrahimovic on Thursday said farewell to Manchester United after the English Premier League club agreed to terminate the Swedish striker’s contract ahead of an expected move to Los Angeles Galaxy.
“Manchester United confirms that it has agreed to the termination of Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s contract with immediate effect,” United said in a statement. “Everyone at the club would like to thank Zlatan for his contribution to the team since his arrival and wishes him well for the future.”
The 36-year-old, Sweden’s record scorer with 62 goals in 116 games, has been linked with a move to the US for some time as he looks to write another chapter in his glittering club career.
“Great things also come to an end and it is time to move on after two fantastic seasons with Manchester United,” Ibrahimovic said in a message to his 30 million followers on Instagram. “Thank you to the club, the fans, the team, the coach [Jose Mourinho], the staff and everybody who shared with me this part of my history.”
“You’ll be missed Lion, wish you all the best,” United teammate Paul Pogba wrote on Twitter.
His former Sweden teammates said the striker would shine in Major League Soccer if he did join the Galaxy.
“It would be fun for them to get him over there and it’s always fun to see Zlatan play football,” Sweden defender Pontus Jansson, who like Ibrahimovic started his professional career at Swedish club Malmo FF, told reporters. “I haven’t seen Zlatan play in a long time, he’s had problems with injuries, but this will be a good start for him to get playing again.”
Ibrahimovic left Malmo to join Ajax, where he won the domestic championship, before moving to Juventus.
In a career at many of Europe’s leading clubs Ibrahimovic won league titles with Inter and AC Milan, Spanish giants Barcelona and Ligue 1 side Paris Saint Germain, before linking up with his former Inter coach Jose Mourinho at Manchester United.
He scored 28 goals in all competitions in his first season at United before sustaining a serious knee injury in April last year while playing in the UEFA Europa League against RSC Anderlecht.
Despite the injury he was re-signed by United at the end of the season and returned to competitive action in November last year, making his final appearance for the club on Dec. 26 against Burnley before injury struck again.
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