Marco Verratti has spoken of the importance of former teammate, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, “?as the Paris club struggle to adapt to the departure of the Swede – trailing Monaco and Nice by three points in Ligue 1.
Edinson Cavani has done well to replace the goals of Zlatan, scoring 18 already this season, but filling the personality void left by the striker – who scored his 14th Premier League goal on Sunday in the draw with Liverpool – was always bound to be a tough challenge.
“For some time and when things were not going our way, I often heard about a lack of leaders in the dressing room following the departure of Zlatan Ibrahimovic,” Verratti told “?Goal.
“Zlatan taught us to become leaders! He is a player who improves everyone who plays with him. With PSG, it was impressive to see that he was still training like an 18-year-old boy. He was also an example to follow in the locker room. He was a leader.
“Sometimes, just watching him train, you wanted to do more to not appear ridiculous. He brought a victorious mentality to Paris,” Verratti revealed about the Swede who won the Ligue 1 title in each of his four seasons with PSG.
“Look, I’m not complaining, I’m very lucky. But when you are 21, and you come to France, and you start having a lot of people around you and a lot of money, you need someone to keep you balanced. For me, it was Zlatan. I took confidence in him,” the Italian continued.
“Away from the field, Zlatan gave me a great deal. Everyone thinks that life as a footballer is always easy, but that’s not the case.
“I like him a lot, but there are many different ways to be a leader. When something did not go right, Zlatan said straight away.
“There must be someone like that in the dressing room, but you can’t have 20 Ibrahimovic’s!”
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