Zlatan Ibrahimovic returns to AC Milan where his goals in his first stint included a Champions League penalty against Arsenal in February 2012 © AFP/File / Giuseppe CACACE
MILAN, Italy, Dec 27 – Swedish star Zlatan Ibrahimovic on Friday returned to AC Milan on a six-month contract promising to help rescue the struggling Serie A side’s season.
“I’m coming back to a club I hugely respect and to the city of Milan I love,” the 38-year-old said on the club’s website.
“I’ll fight together with my teammates to change the course of this season. I will do everything to make it happen.”
This will mark the Swede’s second stint with AC Milan, seven years after he left the club for Paris Saint-Germain.
He played at San Siro from 2010 to 2012 scoring 56 goals in 85 appearances and helping the former European giants win their 18th and last Serie A title in 2011.
But he faces a stiff challenge with the club in 11th in Serie A and reeling from a 5-0 defeat by Atalanta, their heaviest loss in 21 years.
“The club and the striker have agreed on a deal until the end of the current season with an option to extend the contract for the next one,” Milan said in a statement.
The six-month deal is reported to be worth in the region of 3.5 million euros ($3.9 million) plus bonuses, according to press reports.
Ibrahimovic will arrive in Milan on January 2 to take his medical and join his teammates for his first training session, the club added.
In November, Ibrahimovic and the LA Galaxy parted ways after two seasons following the club’s elimination from the Major League Soccer playoffs.
“Zlatan Ibrahimovic returns to AC Milan where he played a leading role in the club’s history,” Milan added.
Their previous union was a success, with an Italian title in 2011, and the trophy for top scorer in Serie A for the Swede in 2012 when he hit 28 goals.
He had previously won three league titles with Inter Milan, and two with Juventus, which were revoked following the ‘Calciopoli’ match-fixing scandal.
AC Milan’s first game after the winter break will be at home against Sampdoria on January 6.
The seven-time European winners are 14 points off a qualifying place for the Champions League, a competition they have not played since the 2013-2014 season.
The Italian club are serving a ban from European competition due to Financial Fair Play breaches.
Ibrahimovic started his career at Malmo in his native Sweden going on to play for Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona, AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United, winning trophies with all his clubs but never winning the Champions League.
