Zlatan Ibrahimovic training with his own team Hammarby during coronavirus crisis and tipped to join them next season
ZLATAN IBRAHIMOVIC has been training with his own team Hammarby after returning to his native Sweden during the coronavirus crisis.
The AC Milan striker, who was allowed to leave Italy for his homeland due to the ongoing pandemic, bought a 25 per cent stake in the Stockholm club last November.
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Yet the decision was widely criticised by fans of Zlatan’s boyhood side Malmo, with a statue of the 38-year-old having its nose sawn off.
Despite this, Ibra threatened to anger his old supporters even further after he was pictured linking up with members of rivals Hammarby’s first-team squad on Thursday.
Manager Jesper Jansson told the club’s official website that the former Barcelona star is welcome to continue training with them.
He said: “Zlatan has been home in Stockholm with his family for a while during the break in Europe, and felt he wanted to touch the ball again.
“Of course, we were positive about it, so he was here today and trained.
“During the break we have had voluntary training, and on Monday we will restart the collective training.
“Zlatan is of course welcome to train with us then as well, but it remains to be seen how that will happen.”
Sweden has so far resisted imposing lockdown measures to combat the spread of coronavirus, despite the number of confirmed cases there approaching 10,000 – with 812 deaths.
Ibrahimovic re-joined Milan on a six-month deal back in January following a hugely-successful stint with MLS side LA Galaxy.
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Reports in Italy claimed that he is set to leave the club for a second time after the Serie A season is finished and Swedish outlet Expressen tipped him to sign for Hammarby.
The club’s chairman Richard von Yxkull told the outlet: “It is so much fun that he wants to train with us.
“There is no major drama. He simply wants to keep going and asked if he could train with us.”