One of the Gunners’ biggest icons Thierry Henry played with the Swede during his time at Barcelona. The former striker has now backed Zlatan Ibrahimovic to overcome his current form slump.
Henry and Zlatan were a strike force to reckon with when they played together at Barcelona. While the Swede is still kicking it around at the top level even at the ripe age of 35, the Frenchman is now a reputed pundit at Sky Sports after hanging up his boots.
The Arsenal legend recently spoke about the woes of his former teammate, stating that this is a slump that Zlatan has the character and ability to overcome.
“It’s the first time he’s found himself in this situation in his career,” said Henry on Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football show. “He usually puts them in the back of the net because this doesn’t happen to him often.
“He’s going to have to deal with it. I know he has the character and the ability to deal with it but it will be better for him if it happens sooner rather than later.”
One of the biggest strengths in Zlatan’s arsenal is his supreme confidence. However, this may have taken a battering given his current form. Henry was asked if it would affect how the Swede played, and the Frenchman believes that the effect would be minimal.
“Yes, it does affect you but I would still back him to deliver for United because of the player he was and he is still,” he said.
Ibrahimovic got his Manchester United career off to a flying start. The former Milan striker scored an amazing scissor-kick on debut and headed in the winning goal to gift his new club the Community Shield. His start to the Premier League was equally impressive, with four goals in his first four games.
However, it has all gone terribly wrong for Zlatan since then. The Swede has gone six league games without scoring. The last time this happened was almost a decade ago, when he was playing in the Serie A with Inter Milan.
Against Burnley this past weekend, Zlatan had a whopping 12 shots on goal but failed to convert any of them. This was met with much criticism and public sentiment is currently against Ibrahimovic. However the iconic Swede has it in him to bounce back at any time and make his critics eat their words, just as he has done in the past.
