The picture of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the giallorossi strip of AS Roma is one that has been imagined before.
In 2003, while still at Ajax, the then-22-year-old remarked that he would "like to play for Roma" and was only awaiting a formal approach before sealing a move to the Stadio Olimpico, according to Sky Sports.
"I know that [Roma] president [Franco] Sensi's club were interested in buying me," he said. "But I don't know if they still are."
Fabio Capello was in charge of the Serie A heavyweights at the time, and less than two years prior, they had won the Scudetto with a squad including the likes of Cafu, Walter Samuel, Emerson, Vincenzo Montella and Gabriel Batistuta.
And, of course, Francesco Totti, who became an eternal legend in the Eternal City in 2001 and remains in the team to this day.
But Totti is all the current Roma side has in common with its famous forebears. When Ibrahimovic was first pursued, Italian football was awash in cash, popularity and high-profile players, and while the heyday lasted a bit longer, it reached its symbolic end with the Sweden international's transfer from AC Milan to Paris Saint-Germain in 2012.
By then Ibrahimovic had left his mark on the peninsula—just not with Roma.
In 2004 he joined Juventus for €16 million, and in 294 matches with the Bianconeri, Inter Milan and AC Milan he scored 148 goals, won six titles (two of them revoked after the Calciopoli investigation) and was named Serie A Footballer of the Year on three occasions.
Italy saw the best of the striker, and even when he left for France, there was the sense he might have preferred to stay put.
On Tuesday, he was, for a second time, linked to a Roma switch, with Swedish outlet Aftonbladet hinting at unhappiness in the French capital and a "stormy relationship" with PSG boss Laurent Blanc, as relayed by Football Italia.
Given team-mate Edinson Cavani's absence from warm-weather training in Morocco and fellow forward Ezequiel Lavezzi's apparent desire to quit the Ligue 1 champions, according to Get French Football News, the notion of widespread discontent at Parc des Princes isn't all that hard to buy into.
But would PSG entertain offers for Ibrahimovic with Cavani and Lavezzi supposedly on the way out? Hardly. And although he could force a move, it's highly unlikely Roma would come in for him. They're simply in no position to do so.
The striker's contract lasts until the end of next season and, as reported by Football Italia, pays the now-33-year-old €12 million annually. He's not only out of Roma's pay range but that of Italian football generally, and at this point his age makes a big-money commitment a luxury few clubs can afford.
That picture of Ibrahimovic in the Roma shirt didn't become reality in 2003, and it's certainly not going to now.
from Bleacher Report http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Bleacherreport/~3/ntevsMOzZx8/2314994-ibrahimovic-may-leave-psg-but-not-now-and-not-for-roma
via IFTTT December 30, 2014 at 01:49PM
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