Manchester United players are currently gone on international break, while the rest of the team is at the club getting ready for everything that awaits them starting from next weekend. Yet, one player that was not on international duty has left the club and will not be coming back.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic officially parted ways with Manchester United three months before his contract ran until the end. The mutual termination of the contract was done so that the legendary Swedish player was allowed to go to the United States and join Los Angeles Galaxy.
Ibrahimovic Joins The Five Time Champions Of MLS
Ibrahimovic will, most probably on Friday, become the new player of the MLS side and join the most renowned team from the North American league. Manchester United confirmed his departure and various sports journalists from the States have confirmed he will become new Galaxy player.
The player himself has reportedly signed a two-year contract on a 3 million dollar deal. What this means is that Ibrahimovic has signed as a regular player with the Targeted Allocation Money – a term typical for the MLS – and he will not be a Designated Player. What this means is that he will not be a DP like David Beckham was when he joined Galaxy back in 2007. This means that Ibrahimovic’s salary will partially be counted against Galaxy’s salary cap.
Former PSG, Inter Milan, Juventus, Barcelona, Milan and Ajax striker signed for a salary of 1.5 million dollars per season, which is the maximum for a non-Designated Player contract. LA Galaxy did not have any of the DP spots open as they already have done most of their transfer business, so Ibrahimovic could have only joined through a TAM signing.
All of this means that Ibrahimovic will most probably still be playing by the end of 2019, by which point we will know if this is the final contract of his career. By the end of his contract with Galaxy, he will be 38 years old and it would be hard seeing him stay in MLS afterwards.
What This Means For Galaxy And MLS?
MLS is more and more going forwards with signing youngsters from South America in recent years, changing the landscape of the league in the process. This signing of Ibrahimovic is more of MLS going back to their old ways of working, bringing in seasoned players from Europe. However, this will not bring that trend back. More MLS clubs are scouting all around the South America and Central America for undervalued talent and players that could later on be sold to European clubs.
What LA Galaxy will get with this is more publicity at the time when everyone is talking about their new city rivals, Los Angeles FC. The new franchise has kicked-off very well in 2018 in their first ever season and now the spotlight will go back to the five-time champions of the MLS.
Ibrahimovic should still be the player that can make a big difference for Galaxy on the pitch. This deal was mostly done because of the marketing potential that Zlatan will bring to California, but on the pitch he could still be a very relevant player.
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