Leo Beenhakker never wanted to let Zlatan Ibrahimovic drop in his time at Ajax. Beenhakker, who was technical director at Ajax at the time, tells this in conversation with Football International. On Sunday Ibrahimovic turned forty years old, so Beenhakker looks back on his time with the Swedish striker.
Ibrahimovic had a difficult start in Amsterdam. After a disappointment, the Swede went to Beenhakker and the technical director always had a listening ear. ‘I could understand that guy because I understood from Hasse Borg, the sports director of Malmö, how difficult it used to be for Zlatan must have been. In addition, I could not tamper with the authority of the head coach. And to make it completely complicated, Zlatan didn’t hit a single marble in his first half season,” says Beenhakker.
The team from Amsterdam had paid 7.5 million for Ibrahimovic. , but in his early days the Swede didn’t seem like a killer. ‘Those weeks I felt more and more eyes prick my back after every game, like:
What has that Beenhakker achieved again? Director Arie van Eijden didn’t look too happy either. Patience, patience, was all I could say.’
During those conversations, the now forty-year-old striker started to complain about all kinds of things. “Once he calmed down, we started talking seriously. Did I say I got it, that I knew what it must be like, alone in a flat in Diemen.’ In the end it was about trust, says Don Leo. ‘ They have to feel that. And after that you need a moment, a good action, a goal. That’s how it was with Zlatan. He scored, then again, then he also played good football and then he was over it. My part was not big, I just never wanted to drop it, while there were people who thought that was a good idea.’
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