'Ibrahimovic will become the new Eric Cantona at Old Trafford'

Swedish legend Pontus Kamark compares Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Eric Cantona, but is also concerned for Man Utd because of his compatriot's fierce personality.

Pontus Kamark is currently a football pundit for Swedish satellite television Viasat. He was a member of the 1994 World Cup third-placed team, and was a defender for Leicester City from 1995 to 1999.

“Ibrahimovic is a good choice for Man Utd, and can become the new Eric Cantona at Old Trafford. But he can cause a lot of problems if he does not win the number one striker position here. It will be the same problems that happened when he played alongside Lionel Messi at Barca in the 2009-10 season,” Kamark commented on the Daily Mirror on August 11.

Kamark during his time playing for the Swedish national team.

He continued: “He’s been involved in all sorts of controversies. He even called Pep Guardiola a “philosopher” when he was at Barca and Messi was the team’s number one star. Ibrahimovic doesn’t want to be number two in any team. If someone gets in his way, he’ll hit them. He can kick you in training, because he did that to his teammates. He’ll do anything to stay on the throne. He’ll fight anyone who doesn’t accept him as number one.”

“Ibrahimovic is always looking for something, because he has to be number one, never second best,” Kamark stressed.

Before joining Old Trafford, Ibrahimovic had always asserted his role as the number one star at PSG, forcing striker Edinson Cavani to accept a winger role. The 34-year-old striker may want to do the same at Man Utd, despite competition from captain Wayne Rooney and young striker Marcus Rashford.

Ibrahimovic recently said Rooney is a “perfect partner”, with the England international likely to continue to occupy a deeper role in attack.

With his familiar personality, Bra will not give up the number one position in Man Utd's attack to Rooney. Photo: AFP.

Kamark commented: "Hopefully Ibrahimovic and Rooney can get along. If that happens, they will be a perfect attacking pair for Man Utd in the future. But if they can't have a good relationship, Ibrahimovic will cause a lot of problems for the team. You can have two different teams related to Ibrahimovic. He can help the team do many things that would not be possible without him, but sometimes he is the center of many problems."

According to VNE