Saturday 23 / November / 2024
New Delhi : Tottenham Hotspur winger Dejan Kulusevski opened up about the influence of iconic strikers Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cristiano Ronaldo had on his career.
The Swedish international star met Ibrahimovic in 2021 during the national duty. Kulusevski went on to talk about the interaction he had with the AC Milan legend and how he got inspired by the immense amount of effort that Ibrahimovic puts in while training.
Speaking to The Players Tribune, he said as quoted from Goal.com, "My period at Juventus was a chance to learn from legends. I got to know Zlatan when he made his comeback for Sweden -- at the age of 39 -- and he was like, 'Listen, I'm too nice to you guys. You should see me in Milan'. I didn't know what he meant until I visited his house one day and he told me he was training seven hours a day. Seven hours! The guy is 42 now and he's still posting pictures and videos of himself training like an animal. What the hell is he training for?! Nobody knows. He's just being Zlatan."
Kulusevski also had the opportunity to play in the same team along with one of the best strikers in the world - Cristiano Ronaldo during his time with Juventus.
The Swedish winger and Ronaldo were a part of the same Juventus team during the 2020-21 season. Kulusevski hailed the Portuguese for the hard work that he would put in during the training session.
"And Cristiano? What a guy, man. After training everyone would be on their phones, tap, tap tap, but not him. You could see how hard he worked, how much he wanted it, even though he had nothing left to prove," Kulusevski added.
Ibrahimovic announced his retirement from the sport last year and he features in an advisory role for his former club AC Milan.
On the other hand, Ronaldo at the age of 39 is still shattering records and setting new standards in the Saudi Pro League while featuring for Al Nassr.
Kulusevski is expected to feature for Tottenham in their upcoming clash against Fulham on Saturday in the Premier League.
