Zlatan Ibrahimovic's decision to become part owner of Allsvenskan club Hammarby has "burned all bridges" with Malmo, according his first club's supporters' group.
Former Juventus, Inter, Barcelona and Manchester United striker Ibrahimovic came through the ranks at his local club Malmo and played for its first team between 1999 and 2001 before joining Ajax.
The 38-year-old has enjoyed an illustrious career at club level, winning 31 trophies, while he also scored 62 goals in 116 appearances for Sweden - making him comfortably the record goalscorer for his country.
Despite most of Ibrahimovic's career being spent away from Malmo, he and the club retained an affinity for each other, with the enigmatic forward previously hinting at a desire to return.
He was even the subject of a Swedish FA-commissioned statue outside Malmo's stadium last month, but any respect the club's fans held for him has seemingly vanished after he purchased 50 per cent of entertainment conglomerate AEG's ownership stake in fellow Allsvenskan team Hammarby.
"What Zlatan did for Malmo was that he was sold for a lot of money. Since then he has not done so much more," Kaveh Hosseinpour, deputy chairman of Malmo's supporters' group, told SVT.
"I feel sorry for Zlatan. He has burned all his bridges with Malmo. For supporters and young people, he will not be the role model he was before.
"The idea of Zlatan to Malmo was much more relevant a few years ago. In recent years, the transition has felt less and less hot.
"Instead of thinking about Zlatan to Malma for a season, they have instead focused on whether or not Markus Rosenberg should sign for another year. Markus has been much bigger to Malmo than Zlatan."
Ibrahimovic is a free agent after leaving MLS side LA Galaxy and has been strongly tipped to make a return to Serie A side Milan.
Comments
SHARE