Ibrahimovic's towering terms for continuing to play in Paris
Paris Saint-Germain striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic said on Sunday he could be tempted to stay with the French champion - if he is immortalized with a statue in place of the city's iconic Eiffel Tower.
The 34-year-old's cheeky response to the ongoing speculation over his future came after he scored four goals in a 9-0 demolition of Troyes which sealed a fourth successive Ligue 1 title for PSG with eight games to spare.
"For the moment, I won't be at PSG next season," said Ibrahimovic, whose contract expires in July.
Paris St Germain's Zlatan Ibrahimovic (right) and David Luiz celebrate their French Ligue 1 title after routing Troyes 9-0 at Stade de l'Aube on Sunday. Philippe Wojazer / Reuters |
"I still have a month and a half of competition left. What happens next year, for the moment, I don't know about it," he told BeIN Sports.
Ibrahimovic, who arrived in Paris from AC Milan in July 2012 and has been linked with a move to Manchester United, then said: "If they replace the Eiffel Tower with a statue of me, I will stay at PSG. I can promise that!"
Earlier, PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi insisted he wants Ibrahimovic to stay at the club.
"Zlatan is magical," said Al-Khelaifi. "He is a great player. We are going to talk him and see what he wants to do. We want him to stay."
Ibrahimovic's four goals took his league total to 27 in 24 games this season.
Qatari Al-Khelaifi said PSG will now target a first Champions League title after already knocking off Chelsea in the last 16.
"We must now stay focused because the season is not finished," he said.
"We have three more cups to fight for (Champions League, French League Cup, French Cup), but the Champions League is our biggest dream.
"We want to go as far as possible but we know there will be some very strong teams."
Just four days after advancing to the Champions League quarterfinals, PSG wrapped up the club's sixth French title.
Laurent Blanc's squad obliterated the French record for the quickest league victory, set by Lyon in 2007.
Unlike last season, when Paris waited until late March to take over top spot, the capital club has set the pace uninterrupted since beating Gazelec Ajaccio 2-0 in its second game of the campaign.
"We've worked well. Everyone is to be congratulated - the players, the coaching staff, the medical team," said Blanc.
"But the season isn't finished and we're going to have to get ourselves back in competition mode because there are some important dates coming up in April and hopefully May."
Ibrahimovic took center stage in 10 magical minutes.
The towering Swede made it 4-0 just seconds into the second half when he drilled the ball low into the left-hand corner.
Ibrahimovic's second was a gem, a first-time volley off a perfect Angel di Maria cross as PSG swarmed on the attack.
His third - and 100th in Ligue 1 action - was equally sublime. The 34-year-old met a Layvin Kurzawa cross at full speed and unleashed a blinding right-footed shot that swerved into the far corner of the net.
Matthieu Saunier compounded Troyes' woes with an own goal, while Lossemy Karaboue saw red for hauling Cavani down in the box with 16 minutes to play.
Dreyer did well to save Cavani's penalty, but the striker tapped in at the second bite.
It was left to Ibrahimovic to wrap up the 9-0 rout, the striker showing great strength to ride a tackle and unleash an unstoppable shot after a Pastore through-ball.
"I'm very lucky to play with good players," a modest Ibrahimovic said, walking off with the ball wedged under his arm. "The referee gave it to me!"
The Ligue 1 title was the fourth time Blanc has won it as a manager having also guided Bordeaux to the 2008-09 title.
The gulf in class has never been more apparent since Qatar Sports Investments purchased PSG in the summer of 2011, in what has become a landmark moment in French soccer.
With a budget of close to 500 million euros ($558 million), PSG's financial supremacy has enabled it to spring well clear of the rest of the competition in Ligue 1 and render last year's keenly-contested title race a distant memory.
PSG has set records tumbling this term and surpassed Nantes' 32-game unbeaten run set during the 1994-95 campaign, only for a 2-1 defeat at Lyon last month to end its sequence at 36 matches and with it any hopes of earning the invincibles tag.
But PSG's ambitions go beyond simply retaining the league title, with the club also through to the League Cup final on April 23 and set to face Lorient four days earlier for a place in the French Cup showpiece as it seeks to defend last year's historic treble.
However, conquering Europe represents the top priority for PSG, and how it fares next month and beyond will go a long way to determining how successfully its season is portrayed.