Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s career in jeopardy after serious training ground injury

A ‘lion’ he may purport to be, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic may find that his fabled powers of recovery are beyond him after a training ground injury potentially left his career hanging by a thread.

The Daily Star report that during AC Milan’s Monday morning session, the Swede may have suffered an Achilles injury which, per Sky Sports Italia and cited by the Daily Star, saw Ibra leave with a ‘long face.’

“Today, Ibra stopped during a training match at the end of the session. After a finish, he puts his weight on the foot and feels something in his calf, the one that he struggled with between January and February,” journalist Peppe Di Stefano wrote, cited by the Daily Star.

“There’s a concrete possibility of a strain but also fear of an Achilles tendon problem. We have to be careful about what we say, but it must be said.”

Such injuries are tough for any player to overcome, and for a 38-year-old, it could have dire consquences.

After such a storied career, it would be an awful way for Ibrahimovic to bow out, but even if he were to somehow come back from this, it’s unlikely to be until the 2020/21 campaign at the earliest, by which time Milan may well have decided upon other attacking options.

That then leaves a question mark over whether any club would be willing to take a player of such an advanced age and who has become more injury prone in the latter stages of his career.