Former Manchester United midfielder, Paul Pogba, has described Zlatan Ibrahimovic as a ‘harsh leader’.
Both players shared the dressing room at Manchester United and Pogba admitted that some of his former teammates at Old Trafford struggled with the Swede’s criticism.
Manchester United paid £89 million to bring Pogba from Juventus in 2016 and it was the summer Ibrahimovic also moved to Old Trafford on a free transfer.
They both played under Jose Mourinho and helped the club win the Europa League and the EFL Cup.
Pogba compared Ibrahimovic’s direct approach at United and softer nature of Patrice Evra criticism, which, according to him, helped his progression with France’s national side.
“I think there are different kinds of leaders,’ Pogba said in an interview with Al Jazeera.
“Zlatan is a leader who is harsh and is strong.
“With me I’m fine, like he could [say], ‘you played very badly yesterday, what were you doing? Go train today.’
“So he’s a leader, he wants you to win, but he says it in a harsh way. Which I like, some people like, some people don’t.
“He can bring some people high up, but he can bring some people down. With Zlatan you need to be strong mentally. It’s like a [Michael] Jordan style, I would say.
“Patrice Evra who was a leader with the national team and in Manchester who is totally different.
“He comes and talks to you in a nice way, sometimes he can go hard on you but not all the time.
“There are different kinds of leaders. There are some leaders who don’t really speak, but on the pitch they will always show you. An example I will give you here in Italy, [Andrea] Pirlo.
“Pirlo was a leader. On the pitch, a big leader, he’s not someone who speaks a lot in the changing room, but on the pitch he gave you this confidence, this trust, he was a different kind of leader.”
