Milan CEO Ivan Gazidis insists the Rossoneri have a ‘special story’ with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and hopes the Swede ends his career at San Siro.
Ibrahimovic sees his contract expire at the end of the season and the two parties have yet to meet to discuss a new deal.
“Zlatan knows that every year that goes by, he needs to develop his game to continue to be performing at this level. I hope that, whenever the time will come, he will end his playing days at Milan,” Gazidis told CNN via Calciomercato.com.
Is it time for Milan to part ways with injury-prone Ibrahimovic?
“We have a special story with Zlatan. He has really given something back to the team and these young players who are growing at the club. Zlatan knows that every year that goes by, he needs to develop his game to continue to be performing at this level.
“I hope that, whenever the time will come, he will end his playing days at Milan. We have a special story with Zlatan. He has really given something back to the team and these young players who are growing at the club.”
The Swede is currently recovering from an Achilles tendon injury and is expected to miss the upcoming Serie A clash against Sampdoria.
The former Barcelona and Manchester United striker has scored eight goals in 19 appearances across all competitions this term but has already missed 15 games due to injuries. He is Milan’s highest earner with a salary of €7m per season. Milan signed Olivier Giroud in the summer, knowing that the Swede would not be fit to play every game and the former Chelsea star has scored ten goals in 22 appearances with the Serie A giants.
#Milan, #Gazidis: 'Stadio e infrastrutture sostenibili sono il futuro. Con #Ibra c'è una storia speciale, ma ogni anno che passa…' https://t.co/iKSAnjM27O pic.twitter.com/ZOhsyYpqQ9
— calciomercato.com (@cmdotcom) February 11, 2022
Everybody complaining and asking Ibra to retire, He’s old and so is Olivier Giroud no doubt about that but despite missing so many games, he has 8 and Giroud 10 half way to the season.
How many did Andre silva, Kalinic, castilejo and so many young strikers Milan have bought over the years got?
Players of this generation gets it too easy.. 1 lucky season with 15 goals, their prize tag will already be at 100M but these old players are proven and as long as they still have anything left in them, I don’t mind seeing them leading the team!
Fans complaining Ibra, how about Ante Rebic? What’s causing his daily injuries??
Clubs are wasting so much money and getting nothing back🙄
Zlatan will hopefully see the value in taking a pay cut on the extension in that it allows to make the squad around him more competitive. I wonder if he would take a 3 mill season, then 2mill if he plays 25 games plus 2 mill if he scores 15 goals, or perhaps a price per match okayed and goal scored. CL qualification this summer should give us a bit of a transfer budget, especially with January being so slow and there being a few departures that helps with the wage bill.