Zlatan Ibrahimovic on Kylian Mbappe’s PSG choice: ‘He made the right choice for PSG, not for himself’

Zlatan Ibrahimovic criticised Kylian Mbappe for deciding to sign a new contract and extend his stay at Paris Saint-Germain.

The Swede believes Mbappe should have moved elsewhere and says it is a choice which only benefits the French champions and not the player.

Asked by Canal+ if it was the right decision, he replied: “For who, for himself? No. For PSG? Yes. He made the right choice for PSG, not for himself, because he put himself in the position where he is bigger than the club, and the club gave him the keys to everything.

“You are never bigger than your club, but when a child becomes strong, he can easily produce income, so his parents become lawyers, agents, coaches. That’s the problem, and when that happens you lose control of who you are and your identity.

“With this new generation the parents think they have become stars, they even talk in the newspapers, but who do they think they are?”

The 41-year-old then turned his attention to Erling Haaland and paid tribute to the Norwegian goalscoring machine, but could not resist a subtle dig at his former Barcelona boss Pep Guardiola when asked if he could improve under the current Manchester City manager.

“I like Haaland very much, he’s a very intelligent player, he doesn’t do things that aren’t within his reach. He doesn’t drop deep to play the ball, he waits in front of the goal and scores. He reminds me of players like (Filippo) Inzaghi, (David) Trezeguet and (Christian) Vieri. He is a sort of ‘new version’ of all three.”

“It depends on Guardiola’s ego, whether he lets him become bigger than he is or not.”