Zlatan Ibrahimovic will reject a return to AC Milan to be a Paris Saint-Germain player again next season, the French champions’ president has said.
Ibrahimovic, 33, has only a year left on his PSG deal, and AC Milan chairman Silvio Berlusconi said last weekend he was “fixated” on bringing the Sweden international, who left the Rossoneri to join PSG in 2012, back to the San Siro.
Since that move, however, Ibrahimovic has proven a huge influence both on and off the pitch and has become key to the plans of PSG’s ambitious owner, Qatar Sports Investments, who aim to make their club one of Europe’s best.
After watching Ibrahimovic, who finished as the team’s leading league scorer this season, contribute to PSG’s unprecedented domestic treble by winning Saturday’s Coupe de France final, president Nasser Al Khelaifi told media the former Inter Milan and Barcelona striker was staying put.
“Zlatan still has a year’s contract with us. He also wants to stay,” Al Khelaifi said.
Those sentiments were echoed by the forward’s agent, Mino Raiola, who told Corriere dello Sport, “I thank Berlusconi for his beautiful words, but Zlatan is staying where he is, and he’s happy playing for PSG. And anyway, for the greats of football, it’s difficult to return to Italy.”
Ibrahimovic’s fellow PSG forward, Edinson Cavani, was tipped to leave the Ligue 1 title-holders this summer due to his increasing frustration at being played in a wide role to accommodate Ibrahimovic through the middle of Laurent Blanc’s 4-3-3 formation.
Juventus were reportedly due to meet the former Napoli star with a view to bringing him back to Italy, which he left for a Ligue 1 record +64 million in 2013.
However, a return of 13 goals in his last nine competitive outings for PSG, including the matchwinner in Saturday’s cup final, has changed the Uruguay international’s mind, and he is now set to head into the third year of the five-year deal he signed when joining PSG amid reports the two parties will meet next week to discuss a contract extension.
“Cavani wants to stay here, he is really very happy,” Al Khelaifi, 41, who has repeatedly stated his determination to hold on to the striker, explained. “He is with us, and he doesn’t want to leave. He has scored 31 goals this season, that’s magnificent for him, for the club, and for me, because I was behind him. He really is a great talent and I have a lot of confidence in him.”
While two of the squad’s biggest names appear set to stay, others may leave the Parc des Princes this summer. Forward Ezequiel Lavezzi and full-backs Lucas Digne and Gregory van der Wiel could find themselves surplus to requirements. Blanc told media his squad was in need of rejuvenation.
“I think there’ll be departures and arrivals. I’ve been working with a great squad for two years, but we need changes. There are perhaps players in the squad that will want to leave. There will be open doors. If you want to regenerate a squad, you need departures,” said the PSG boss, mindful of the financial fair play restrictions under which the club will again operate this summer.
“If there are three, four or five players who want to leave for a new challenge, I think the door will be open. Like that, we’ll be able to regenerate. It’s up front that we need to strengthen most. I am expecting two attacking players to come.”
He added: “I told you last time that no player had told me, ‘I want to leave’. Since, speaking for myself, no player has told me that in my office. There are players that will leave PSG, but they don’t know it yet. Sometimes it happens very quickly. The agents do their work. There are players who only have a year left on their contracts.”`