If the key to leadership is to treat all of your subjects just the same, then Zlatan Ibrahimovic should lead men into battle. For all those surrounding Zlatan are treated just the same: Ibrahimovic spurns them all with equal fervour with the supercilious air of a Tory politician watching BBC Three.
Ibrahimovic has turned the notion of being the 'big fish' into an art form and has been Paris Saint Germain's main man since he arrived in 2012. Zlatan has won four league titles and four French Cups with PSG, and set a club record with an admittedly insane 154 goals in 179 games. He has undoubtedly been an extraordinary player for PSG, but as he prepares to leave Paris at the end of the season, the club's fawning over their player has gone past the point of nauseating.
Firstly, the club stopped the weekend's league game with Nantes in the tenth minute as a special tribute to Ibrahimovic, which was even worse than the moment last season when Chelsea's players carried Didier Drogba off the field:
If that was not enough, the club have now confirmed they are naming a stand after the striker who spent four seasons with the club. PSG president Nasser al-Khelaifi prostrated himself before the Swedish striker in a bid to sufficiently honour him:
We tried to do everything for him because he deserves everything. Honestly one thing I forgot in my speech is that we're going to call one of the tribunes [stands] under his name...I hope that we did enough for him because he deserves always more.
Zlatan has reportedly agreed to return to PSG in a managerial role in the future, where he has the chance to properly earn a stand. Manchester United waited a long time before bestowing Alex Ferguson with the honour.
[ESPN]
