Swedish international Zlatan Ibrahimovic revealed a passage of his autobiography, in which he stated his desire to play for Real Madrid immediately after playing for Barcelona. According to "Ibra", he asked Barcelona's president Sandro Rosell to call Real Madrid's execs in order for the transfer to be made, since he wanted to re-join with Jose Mourinho, who had just signed to coach Los Blancos.
"He asked me where I wanted to play, and I replied: 'I want to play for Real Madrid. You asked me a question and that's the answer. I'm happy to tell you that Real Madrid is the only club I can see myself playing for, but you have to call them and make this happen. After a few moments, he told me that was never going to happen," Ibrahimovic narrated.
Mourinho coached "Ibra" back in the 2008-2009 season, and the Swede wanted to work with The Special One again.
Ibrahimovic requested to be transferred after just one season with Barcelona, since he did not get along with then coach Pep Guardiola and Lionel Messi. In his book, Zlatan added that the option of joining Los Blancos was dismissed by Barca's officers by asking too much money for his transfer.
"They started negotiations asking for 50 million euros, and we hoped we could make the deal happen. Then, Milan approached but they did not have that amount of money. We kept Real Madrid's option open, but when time was running out, they decided to make the deal with Milan for €20 million," the striker added.
Ibrahimovic, Guardiola and Mourinho during a 2009-2010 game between Barcelona & Inter Milan.
This is not the first time Ibrahimovic has stated his desire to join Real Madrid, after a series of rumors that hinted a possible transfer to Los Blancos when Carlo Ancelotti took managerial duties with them last season.
