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Humble Zlatan? 'I'm a man of the people'

AFP/The Local
AFP/The Local - [email protected]
Humble Zlatan? 'I'm a man of the people'
A man of the people? Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has described himself as a man of the people, going on to comment that he should win the Nobel Prize.

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Swedish striker Ibrahimovic also told Le Monde newspaper that he is doing more for France than President Francois Hollande simply by paying the top rate of tax on his earnings.

"Ibra came and took power in France," said the Swede, who is preparing for Euro 2016 after winning four league titles, three League Cups and two French Cups in four seasons at PSG.

The former Ajax, Juventus, Milan and Barcelona striker said he earned more than 20 million euros ($22.7 million) in the first half of 2015, and claimed he paid 75 percent of it in tax.

"I help this country more than he [Hollande] does because I continue to pay it [the top rate]," Ibrahimovic said. "I can tell you as I do my own tax returns."

"I pay my taxes and help this country. I could even make him popular – it's just I'm not sure I want to," he said of the deeply unpopular leader.

New polls last week showed Hollande only had a 14-percent approval rating after three months of sometimes violent demonstrations against the government's controversial labour reforms, making him one of the most unpopular French post-war leaders.

When asked if he was on the left or right of the political spectrum, Ibrahimovic said he did not like to talk politics because he did not know anything about it.

"I'm a man of the people, neither left nor right," he said.

However, he is apparently not man of the people enough to have lost his famously confident attitude, commenting that he's next got his eyes set on Sweden's most famous award, the Nobel Prize.

"It's the only award I haven't yet won. But I've still got time to win it. I don't know who could win it apart from me," he said.

The 34-year-old, who has been linked with Manchester United, had hinted he might reveal his new club on Tuesday.

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