Ibrahimovic: “Tonali is ready for the Premier League”

There are those who cry. Who gets the hood of the car autographed. And who literally trembles with emotion, like a shivering middle-aged blonde lady who can’t calm down after embracing Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He is visibly touched by all the people who have gathered for him at the Neoapotek pharmacy in Bergamo, who have entered into an exclusive partnership with “Mind the Gum”, the line of food supplements of which Ibra has been a member for some years (“We are growing up, now we also have products for sleep”). Zlatan was and remains a grandiosely transversal character: whoever scrolls in front of him for an autograph or a selfie ranges from 3 to 70 years old, and there are people who hand him not only Rossoneri T-shirts. He has a smile for everyone, and it’s not just a duty of presence. He looks at the dozens and dozens of people lining up for him outside the pharmacy in the scorching sun and caresses them all with his gaze. Those are his people.

No hurryAnd a few meters away is the Gewiss Stadium. He scored two goals there in his career, one with Inter and one with Milan, and being one step away from one of the stadiums he frequented in his career almost seems like a twist of fate. Even if it must be said that his state of mind displaces: “Right now I feel calm, very calm and this thing surprises me because I didn’t think I would be so calm. I figured I’d be a lot more stressed. Instead, feeling like this… it’s cool”. So calm as to enjoy the first month of his life with the knowledge that he no longer has a football season around the corner. So calm as to drastically avoid the image of a farewell game of him: “No, I’ve decided to stop, but I don’t have this idea yet. Let’s see what happens now, there’s no hurry, calmly. There’s time. Have you seen Riquelme, no (farewell match nine years later, ed)? Football obviously continues to follow him, but not everything. When you detach yourself you only look from the outside, it’s a different thing”.

GrowthOf course, some considerations on Milan cannot be missing. Last night, for example, Zlatan was immortalized embracing Paolo Maldini at the Coldplay concert at San Siro. “Yes, a big hug… Actually we only said a few words. I have a good relationship with him, we played against each other and I’m sorry we weren’t together as a team. But we worked together, we won. Then, for everything else, I don’t know what happened. I’m sorry for Paolo, because he is a banner of Milan.” From Maldini to Tonali – or to another outgoing Rossoneri – is a snap. “If he is ready for the Premier? Yes, I think yes. Of course, it depends on him. I made him understand the right mentality he must have to win, and he won. He has grown a lot with Milan, he has a great responsibility and he still has to grow, but in England he will make it, and he will also make it well ”. The fans, on the other hand, demand Ibra back in the Rossoneri, and Zlatan shows off a wide smile like this: “I’m proud of the fact that people want to see me again in Milan in another role too. Milan has remained in my heart, what I went through with this club is something that remains inside. And then seeing the passion of the fans like today is something that gives me a lot. Now I’ll take some time, let’s see what happens. It’s only been three weeks, maybe I’ll go back to playing, you never know. Maybe in a month I’m in retreat with Milan…”. Zlatan says it laughing, he won’t go back. But everyone listening to him at the time wished Z was terribly serious.