When Zlatan Ibrahimovic arrived at Old Trafford to much fanfare in the summer, many were surprised to see that the big Swede was handed the number nine shirt.
The previous owner, Anthony Martial, had come off a sensational debut season, and the decision to allow Ibrahimovic to take his squad number and give him the #11 shirt raised a few eyebrows.
Some suggested it was a marketing move, and most thought it was too trivial to actually upset someone that reveals as little emotion as Martial does when the move was made, but it turns out that the decision did indeed have an effect on the Frenchman.
That is according to his agent Philippe Lamboley, who was speaking to RMC Radio in France when he admitted that he was seriously unimpressed by the decision to give Zlatan the number nine shirt, and that Martial felt similar.
I’m not going to lie to you. Yes, it got to him. Yes, it surprised him. Yes, he was disappointed… for two days.
But he’s professional. He knew how to get back into things straight away.
Personally, I didn’t accept the decision and found it very disrespectful to my player, and I made that known to the United hierarchy. You just don’t do that.
So we accepted it, we turned the page, but we didn’t rip it up.
Martial has not had the impact on the Manchester United team that he had last season, but to suggest that it is due to the new squad number would be ignoring the fact that the entire team are in a slump, as well as the many other factors effecting Martial's performance such as a short vacation after Euro 2016, as well as niggling injuries.
Still, it seems a harsh move to just give a new signing the squad number belonging to one of the team's best performing players without consulting him, but the marketing team at Old Trafford know best, judging by the sick new pillow sponsorship deal that made the fans so happy earlier in the week.
[via 101greatgoals]
