This is the first in a series in which AJC reporter Doug Roberson will begin to look at Atlanta United’s possible player signings ahead of their 2017 inaugural season in MLS. Some potential signings, like Zlatan Ibrahimovic, may be considered fanciful, and rightfully so. Some may be so practical as to be obvious.
You can follow Roberson for news about Atlanta United on twitter @DougRobersonAJC, and bookmark the paper’s Atlanta United page.
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A few months ago, Goal.com compiled a list of players whose contracts will expire at the end of this European soccer season, which is just about done.
That means those players are available on free transfers, a much cheaper way of filling key spots on a team, and a possibly great way for Atlanta United to start to fill out its roster.
However, buyer beware.
There are usually pretty good reasons why some players haven’t had contracts extended or renegotiated.
Other players, such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, simply wanted their contracts to run out.
These are players who I think may fit the criteria that Atlanta United president Darren Eales and technical director Carlos Bocanegra have laid out:
- They want a team strong up the middle;
- They want Designated Players who want to be in Atlanta and MLS and understand the responsibility of being the first players signed. It is incredibly difficult to build and maintain a culture in a company, it is more difficult to fix a poisoned culture;
Some may be players who probably fall into the level below the Designated Player level and into the Targeted Allocation Money group.
I’m not going to differentiate between those two groups in this series.
I again remind you this reflects my opinions only:
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, forward
Formerly of Paris Saint-Germain
The crown jewel of free players is already being linked with Los Angeles, Manchester United and China, which is about as eclectic a list that you can find.
Though 34 years old, the big Swede can still score, can still dribble and can still move. He’s a physical specimen (6-foot-5) with an arrogance that would make an NBA player blush. This portion of a tweet sums up his career with Paris Saint-Germain, for which he scored more than 110 goals in more than 120 appearances from 2012-16: “I came like a king, left like a legend.”
He’s a winner: with league titles clinched in Holland, Italy, Spain and France during his career.
He’s durable, with more than 100 appearances for Sweden.
He’s valuable. In addition to all of his club goals, he is his country’s all-time leading goal-scorer (62).
Pros: Everything. In my opinion, he would surpass David Beckham as the greatest signing in league history.
He would fulfill owner Arthur Blank's credo of being in the best in everything he does.
He would bring worldwide credibility, interest, TV ratings, sponsorship sales and ticket sales to Atlanta United, not to mention jersey sales whenever those begin later this year.
As I’ve written, he’s a natural goal scorer and, based upon what I’ve read, wants to be the biggest fish on whatever team he is playing for. That would definitely be the case at Atlanta United.
Cons: Several, starting with this: He reportedly made more than $25 million annually at PSG, and there are reports of reports (you read that correctly) that he has agreed to a deal to a similar nature in MLS. If accurate, that would turn the league's salary structure on its head and potentially create all sorts of problems for owners both with their teams and with Atlanta United, and rancor within the players' union.
If Ibrahimovic is making, let's say the report is accurate and he will make $25 million annually, and the next-highest DP in MLS is making $7 million (Kaka), then why wouldn't he ask for more? Why wouldn't those players at the lower end of the salary scale say they want more, especially when there are many players that are paid well below what their end-of-the-bench brethren make in the other major sports leagues in the U.S.?
There are ways around the salary issue. Ibrahimovic could make $8 million in salary, which wouldn’t be unreasonable, and then sign sponsorship deals with Mercedes-Benz and whomever the kit sponsor might be.
And then there’s this: Ibrahimovic has won league titles with almost every team he’s played on.
As much as owner Arthur Blank, Eales and Bocanegra want it to happen, it’s unrealistic to think that Atlanta United will win the league, or even compete for the title, in its first year, or even its second.
If he’s not winning, will Ibrahimovic remain happy? Will he remain the cornerstone signing that the team wants?
Ibrahimovic has a bit of a reputation of being me, me, me and has gotten into at least one fight with a teammate when he was at A.C. Milan several years ago. That teammate was U.S. international Oguchi Onyewu.
And if the club were to somehow Ibrahimovic, they had better sign a coaching staff that can deal with his personality and his desire to win.
Lastly, and reflecting the odd world we live in, Ibrahimovic is a Nike guy. MLS has agreements with Adidas.
My final verdict: He would most certainly be worth any risk.
