What Zlatan Ibrahimovic still has to offer in 2022

Even at 40 years old Zlatan Ibrahimovic isn’t showing any signs of slowing down and we’ve looked into the stats to see what he still has to offer in 2022.

Availability 

As Zlatan has got older, injuries have become more frequent, but despite this he still managed to play over 1000 minutes of league football last season. 

He started 11 Serie A matches and came off the bench on 12 occasions in total.  

In total, Zlatan was AC Milan’s 17th most used player throughout the season and so while he may no longer be a guaranteed starter, he still has a role to offer. 

His most reoccurring injury since returning to Milan has been a knee injury for which he had surgery at the start of the 21/22 season.  

The 40-year-old recently penned a new one year deal with AC Milan and so he clearly thinks he’s still got something left in the tank. 

 

Goalscoring 

The biggest thing Zlatan will bring to the table is a consistent flurry of goals and last season was no different. 

He scored eight league goals in total across his 23 appearances. 

Averaging a goal every 126 minutes, had he played every minute of last season and maintained the same ratio he would have scored 27 goals. 

Clearly his goalscoring ability is showing no signs of slowing down. 

The Swedish striker overperformed his individual xG by 1.2 goals last season which further highlights how clinical he was. 

In total, Ibrahimovic took 49 shots with an average of 4.34 shots and 1.51 shots on target per 90. 

These days he is very much a penalty box striker as 78% of his shots came from inside the box.  

Generally speaking, Milan’s goals were fairly well shared around the squad last season as Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao each chipped in with 11 goals and finished the season as Milan’s top scorers. 

Milan had 16 different goalscorers in total as they went onto win the Serie A title with 86 points. 

 

Work off the ball 

It will come as no surprise to learn that Zlatan’s limitations come with his off the ball work and in order to accommodate him into the squad, you need to strike the balance in the final third. 

Zlatan averaged the fewest pressures within the Milan squad last season with just 9.03 pressures per 90. 

Milan were actually the second-best pressing side in Serie A last season too as they averaged 162 pressures per 90, with a success rate of 50.4%. Of Zlatan’s 9.03 pressures, 6.19 of them came in the final third. 

 

Creativity  

Zlatan’s best creative season came with PSG in 2015/16 as he grabbed 13 assists in Ligue 1. 

The 40-year-old still has something to offer in this regard as he averaged one key pass per 90 last season and set up three goals in total. 

Within the Milan squad, Zlatan ranked seventh for key passes per 90 and he ranked fifth within the squad for goal-creating actions per 90 with 0.44. 

He no longer tends to get on the ball and dribble as much as he did in the past as he averages just 0.18 dribbles per 90. 

 

Can AC Milan defend the title next season? 

AC Milan won their first league title in 11 years last season, but the stats suggest they may struggle to defend their title next season. 

Milan did score significantly fewer goals than Inter who hit the back of the net 15 more times last season. 

Their rival's underlying numbers also suggest they have another gear to click up into, especially considering the arrival of Romelu Lukaku.  

Milan averaged an xG of 1.66 per 90, compared to Inter averaging 2.14.  

However, the arrival of Divock Origi from Liverpool on a free transfer may give Milan the extra firepower they have been missing.