As the clock ticked closer to July 1, Zlatan Ibrahimovic took to Instagram to issue a farewell to Manchester United supporters.
On Saturday, Ibrahimovic’s time as a United player officially come to an end, three weeks after Premier League clubs handed over their released players lists.
Ibrahimovic’s name was the sole name on the Red Devils’ list as fans came to terms with the fact that they would not see the Swedish legend in the red jersey again.
In a bid to replace the club’s top scorer last season, manager Jose Mourinho has made Real Madrid’s Alvaro Morata his top transfer target this summer while Ibrahimovic seems to be destined for a spell in Major League Soccer.
Looks like he's on the move https://t.co/hSBgc4pZKA
— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) June 24, 2017
Ibrahimovic has remained relatively quiet in recent weeks but offered a resounding message to those who supported him throughout his debut Premier League season in which he scored 28 goals in 46 games.
“I came. I said. I conquered,” Ibrahimovic wrote on Instagram late on Friday night.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BV-V7QoAAKx/?taken-by=iamzlatanibrahimovic
The situation would likely be very different if not for the serious knee injury that the 35-year-old picked up in a Europa League clash late in the campaign which will likely make Ibrahimovic unavailable until the turn of the year.
United could not really justify paying his significant wages for a further six months considering he could not contribute on the pitch and thus decided against renewing Ibrahimovic’s contract.
“I think it’s so unfair what happened to him,” Mourinho said of Ibrahimovic’s spell on the sidelines. “Sometimes football is unfair, sometimes life is unfair, I think it’s so unfair.”