Dr. Ulf Karlsson has said the words. They’re out there now and there’s no going back.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is a divisive, love/hate character.
Some see him as arrogant and stand-offish. Others respect his footballing genius and his unwillingness to be compromised.
Others love the fact that he once threw Gennaro Gattuso in a bin.
Comments made by Dr. Karlsson at a sports conference in Sweden have been picked up by local media and are filtering across the continent. The doctor was previously in charge of Sweden’s national athletics squad.
According to Sportbladet, who have run an extensive piece on Karlsson’s comments, the doctor questioned the dramatic physical change the striker underwent as a 23-year-old, when with Juventus. He said:
“Ibrahimovic put on 10 kilograms [muscle] in six months during his spell with Juventus. I think he was doping, that’s what it seems like to me.
“It’s impossible to put on so much muscle in such a short time.
“Albin Ekdal, at the same club, put on eight kilograms, too. I believe there was that culture at Juventus at that time – they had a doctor [Riccardo Agricola] who had previously been suspended for 22 months.”
Returning to the subject, later in the conference, Dr. Karlsson stated he was “convinced” about the Swedish striker doping despite no tests at the time implicating him.
It’s worth noting that there is no evidence to substantiate the claims, and that in Zlatan’s 2014 autobiography, “I Am Zlatan”, he references intensively training his upper body with resistance weights as being a key factor to improving his on-field play – it’s certainly not impossible to put on 10kg of mass in six months through hard work at the gym.
JOE have contacted Ibrahimovic’s management company for a response. At present, we are awaiting an official reply.
