Luke Shaw has hailed the impact Zlatan Ibrahimovic had on the dressing-room culture at Manchester United, revealing the veteran Swede would ‘absolutely kill’ anyone not giving 100%.
Ibrahimovic won the Carabao Cup and Europe League with United after joining in 2016, though his time at the club was prematurely cut short after a horror ACL injury and he moved to LA Galaxy after just two seasons – though returned to Europe with AC Milan in January.
The 38-year-old has a reputation for being hot-headed but Shaw says his winning mentality was exactly what United’s young players needed, even laying into teammates if he lost small-sided games.
Speaking during the Combat Corona FIFA Twitch tournament, Shaw said of Ibrahimovic: ‘He was mad. I think he was what we needed in the dressing room.
‘He’s unbelievable, he still had the talent and even though he was a bit older he was still the amazing player that he had been.
‘But I think inside the dressing room he was great. He had a lot of jokes but I think when it got serious, and when he had to sort of put his foot down, you knew about it.
‘I think he was a born winner. Even in little training games, if he didn’t win and you were on his team he would absolutely kill you.
‘So I think he got the best out of everyone when he was there, as in training-wise, because people couldn’t sort of [slack] off kind of because if you’re on his team and you lose, you’re dead.
‘And honestly you can ask anyone in the team, that was the situation. But I think everyone loved him and it was just disappointing that he got that bad injury.’
Shaw was playing FIFA against Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who says John Terry brought a similarly fierce attitude and mentality to training with the Blues.
Asked who always gave 100% at Chelsea, Loftus-Cheek replied: ‘John Terry, obviously not there now, but he was exactly like that. One hundred per cent in training every time, wanted to win every ball, would get on to you if you’re not doing it properly, not committing.
‘And he’s obviously one of the best captains the Premier League has ever seen.’
Shaw chimed in, adding: ‘You look at them two and how much they’ve won, probably a reason they win so much is because that’s the way they are.’
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