Manchester United favourite Ander Herrera has detailed how he fell foul of Zlatan Ibrahimovic at Old Trafford.
Herrera has been speaking to Mario Suarez this week about his career, which naturally included plenty of anecdotes about his time at Manchester United.
He’s already detailed how he come to join Manchester United and leave them. He also discussed his opinion on the Manchester City situation, having played on the other side of Manchester when the Cityzens were alleged to be breaking the rules.
Now he’s shared an interesting anecdote about his time alongside Ibrahimovic.
Ibrahimovic anger
The iconic striker joined United on a free transfer from Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer in July 2016.
He had an immediate impact at the club, scoring 28 goals across all competitions during a spectacular 2016/17 season. He played a key role as United won the EFL Cup, Europa League and Community Shield.
That spell saw him playing alongside Herra, with the two sharing the pitch together 40 times. Herrera even provided the cross for Ibrahimovic’s 87th minute winner in the EFL Cup final.
But it seems he and Juan Mata fell foul of the striker’s big standards early on in his United career.
“After a match, he came over and told Mata and me that we were passing the ball between ourselves and weren’t passing it to him,” Herrera explained.
“And I know why it was. It was because that day, he’d missed three one-on-ones with the goalkeeper, and he found it difficult to admit it. Do you understand?
“But anyway, a top, top, top world-class player. A spectacular professional, an absolute beast when it came to work and discipline.
“With a lot of ego, as we can all see. But he was also important at United, and the season he arrived was Mourinho’s most successful season, when we won the trophies. It’s true that we didn’t win the Premier League.”
Pogba questions
Ibrahimovic wasn’t the only superstar player that Herrera found himself playing alongside at Old Trafford. Another notable name was Paul Pogba.
He returned to Old Trafford in 2016 in an £89m deal from Juventus and was a key part of the midfield that thrived under Jose Mourinho.
Indeed, Herrera shared the pitch with Pogba 84 times across all competitions between 2016 and 2019. Unlike Ibrahimovic, though, Pogba’s spell is seen as a failure despite 39 goals and 51 assists in 226 games in that second spell.
Herrera can’t provide an exact answer as to why it didn’t work out, having been astonished by the midfielder’s abilities.
“Paul is perhaps the player, apart from Messi, who’s something unique, with the most qualities I’ve seen,” he added.
“He’s a midfielder who can win balls back, who can distribute, who can strike the ball with his left foot, who can strike it with his right, who can win duels, who can arrive in the penalty area and score.
“He had everything. And people ask me, why didn’t it work at United? Why didn’t it work during his time at United? I don’t know. I don’t have an answer.
“It’s true that with Mou, with Mourinho, there were issues, that there wasn’t a connection between them. That’s not something I’m just saying. It’s something they’ve said themselves. There wasn’t a connection, but I also believe that football doesn’t end with one manager.
“And it’s true that he hasn’t managed to fulfil the expectations. The expectations for Pogba were to win the Ballon d’Or. People could say, well, there’s Messi, there’s Cristiano, there’s Hazard, Neymar and Pogba. If I’m not mistaken, those were the players being talked about for the next decade.”
