Raiola: Zlatan Ibrahimovic Did Not Leave Juventus Because of Calciopoli Scandal
Super agent Mino Raiola has revealed why his client Zlatan Ibrahimovic left Juventus for Inter Milan some 11 years ago.
At the time of his transfer to Inter, the Bianconeri had been the centre of one of the biggest scandals in footballing history, known as the Calciopoli in Italy. It had been found that the Old Lady had been involved in a network of relations between team managers and referee organizations, and subsequently were accused of rigging games by selecting favourable referees.
However, Raiola has ruled out that Ibrahimovic left Turin for Milan due to the scandal, and instead had been planning to leave for a over a year.
As reported by Swedish newspaper outlet Expressen, Raiola said: “When Zlatan left Juventus, he’d already been prepared for a year.
“It wasn’t because of the scandal, it was nothing to do with that, I had already arranged the deal.
“I felt it was time to move to Inter, and in my opinion Zlatan was the ideal. He went to Inter to write history. He didn’t like the idea of going to Inter at first. Then he was irritated because he knew I was right.
“At the end of the day though he does what he wants. No animal in the world; elephant, weapons or bombs can make him do something he doesn’t want to do.
Throughout the extensive interview with Expressen, Raiola hailed his client as one of the world's best, and believes the enigmatic Swede still has plenty of life left in the tank despite suffering a long-term injury at the age of 36.
“He has so much time ahead of him, at least five or six years. I won’t let him stop, he has to work for me. I’ve been working for him for so many years, now it’s my turn!
“My kids are adults and I need money, he accepted to work for me for only five years. We’re very similar in many ways, but different in other ways.
“Obviously he made me, but in Sweden they also say that I made him. The truth is that we created each other.
Ibrahimovic is still recovering from a cruciate ligament injury that he suffered at the end of last season, but Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has recently said that the expects to see his star striker back in action at some point this year.
