Zlatan Ibrahimovic to sit out Slovenia friendly

Sweden's forward and team captain Zlatan Ibrahimovic (centre) shoots the ball during a training session on the eve of the friendly football match between Sweden and Slovenia at Friends arena on May 29, 2016 in Solna. PHOTO | AFP

What you need to know:

  • All eyes have been on the 34-year-old striker lately pending an announcement on the next step in his career.

  • Having left Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this season, he has refused to comment on speculation he is set to join Manchester United.

  • Ibrahimovic said last week he knew where he would be playing football next season, but kept mum on the details.

STOCKHOLM

Star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic will sit out Sweden’s friendly against Slovenia in order to rest a sore calf, coach Erik Hamren said yesterday.

“We’ll save it until the Wales match” on June 5, Hamren told Swedish news agency TT ahead of today’s match against Slovenia in Malmo.

“It’s the calf he’s had problems with toward the end at PSG,” he said.

All eyes have been on the 34-year-old striker lately pending an announcement on the next step in his career.

Having left Paris Saint-Germain at the end of this season, he has refused to comment on speculation he is set to join Manchester United, where Jose Mourinho was on Friday named the new manager.

Ibrahimovic said last week he knew where he would be playing football next season, but kept mum on the details.

“Yes, I have made my choice,” Ibrahimovic told a press conference at a training camp near Stockholm for the Swedish national team ahead of Euro 2016.

He said he had decided “long ago” but dodged all questions about whether that team was Manchester United. However, when asked a direct question about whether he has received an offer from United, Ibrahimovic’s hesitancy in answering spoke volumes.

He drummed his fingers on the table, smiled and eventually replied: “Let’s see what happens.”

Meanwhile, the right-wing populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) party found itself under fire yesterday after a leading member made racist remarks about national football team defender Jerome Boateng, forcing its leader to issue an apology.

The uproar was started by AfD’s deputy chief Alexander Gauland, who told yesterday’s newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung that Germans would not like to have Boateng, who has a Ghanaian father and was born and brought up in Berlin, as a neighbour.

“People find him good as a footballer, but they don’t want to have a Boateng as a neighbour,” Gauland said.