Arijon Ibrahimović has a tendency to back his talent against extreme odds. He starred in Bayern Munich’s youth academy growing up, growing past the U-23s and looking for an immediate step up to a top 5 league from the Regionalliga. That he found in Frosinone, who were signing talented youngsters from all over Europe, but failed to establish himself as a starter. That loan ended with the Italian club refusing to part with €3 million to make his services permanent, so he returned to Bayern, signed a big contract extension and was planned to be part of the Bavarians’ first team.
This saw him rack up a total of 3 appearances for head coach Vincent Kompany’s team, a dissatisfying result that saw Bayern look to loan him out. Specifically, the club was searching for a loan where Ibrahimović could play a lot. The result of this search was a 6 month loan to Europe-chasing SS Lazio with an option to buy, a total of two appearances and 19 minutes played. The highlight of his time in Italy has to be his meeting with his namesake Zlatan, to whom he somehow has no relation.
Yet, according to SPORTBILD (and captured by @iMiaSanMia), Lazio are considering exercising the buy option:
Despite his very limited game time, partly due to injuries, Lazio are considering signing Arijon Ibrahimović permanently. The management of the Italian club believes in the player’s potential. Lazio have an option to buy worth €8m. A final decision has not been made yet.
BFW Analysis
Arijon Ibrahimović made a reputation for himself in the Bayern campus for both his talent and his (sometimes too high) belief in himself. At times, he would need to have a fire lit under him in order to get the best out of him. One can see that high self belief shine through in his extremely ambitious loans to Italy and the belief that he could force his way into the Bayern first team, but it was too ambitious and he has played little football in recent years as a result.
Paul Wanner, who was rated at a similar level to Ibrahimović in Bayern’s academy, decided to take smaller steps to reach the top and has racked up nearly 2500 minutes in the Bundesliga for FC Heidenheim. His progression is a positive one, Ibrahimović’s is not. It is impossible to deny the German’s talent but doubts need to be expressed about his ability to reach the top if he continues to make overestimate his current ability. If Lazio buy him for those 8 million, that might be a worthwhile sum for a tremendously talented youngster who is struggling to make headway.
