In Defense of Zlatan Ibrahimovic

I can't believe that some quarters are labeling the addition of Zlatan Ibrahimovic to FC Barcelona a flop (is it comparable to Karim Benzema's joining Real Madrid). Anyone with an ounce of brains should know that in Ibra's first year with every club he's joined, he does so-so before breaking out the following season. To wit:

1 goal with Malmo FF in 1999 before he broke out with 12 the next season.

8 goals with Ajax Amsterdam in 2001-02 then 21 in the next.

16 with Juventus in 2004-05 then okay, he dipped to 10 the next.

15 with Internazionale in 2006-07 then 22 the following year.

And now he collectively has 21 in his first year with Barca. In a straight trade up with Inter Milan for Sam Eto'o, Barca seems to have paid better dividends as the Cameroon international has only 16 this year. That total is down from his 36 total with the Catalan club the year before.

People have to understand the differences with Italian and Spanish football. In the Serie A, the game is more of a technical one where 1 goal will suffice and defense is a premium. Italian clubs take pride in shutting down the opposition. In Spain, it's more offensive in nature like Brazilian football. So you say that it might augur well for Ibra, but look at the team of Barcelona aside from the Swedish striker, they have Lionel Messi who has scored a phenomenal 45 goals this year, Bojan Krcic who has 12, and Pedro with 22. If there's any disappointment it's Thierry Henry who only has 4 goals all year long.

Barca's strength is its midfield corps of Xavi, Andres Iniesta, Keita, Yaya Toure, and Sergio. Between the midfielders, they have 17 goals. They have a great attacking corps. Ibra's presence for Barcelona has helped their other forwards because now they have to figure out whom to mark well.

Interestingly, both Inter and Barca play a 4-3-3 but Barca's mids perform much better. And currently, both squads are ahead in the title race but only just by a bit as they are being threatened by AS Roma and Real Madrid respectively.

Am I worried about Zlatan? Nah, he'll do well the following year. And he has too this year. Now if anyone has paid attention to should know that save for his stint in Inter Milan, in his third year his numbers go down. But that's another story.