Ex-France star Christophe Dugarry has explained by what measurement he assesses "great" players and why for him Zlatan Ibrahimovic does not qualify. 

The 35-year-old, who joined Manchester United from Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer in the summer, has thus far scored eight goals in 17 appearances in all competitions for the Red Devils.




Ibrahimovic has won league titles in Sweden, the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and France, with the Swede having played at big clubs such as Ajax, Juventus, Inter Milan, Barcelona and AC Milan.

However, the forward has on occasion grabbed the headlines for the wrong reasons in the past, most noticeably after falling out with Pep Guardiola during his time at Barcelona.
 


And Dugarry thinks as there is no scope for ego problems with great players, he does not consider Ibrahimovic to be on the same level as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

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“I believe in the idea that with great players, you can never have any ego problems. It's a problem with those who think they are great players”, he told RMC Sport.

“Ronaldo quickly realised that he needed [Karim] Benzema and [Gareth] Bale if he wanted to score a lot of goals, and Real Madrid quickly understood too.

"Even Messi understood it.

“For me, Zlatan isn’t a great player. I’ve said it over 200 million times. Because for me, with very great players, you never have problems and they make others better.

“Who could say that Messi would leave a bit of room for Neymar and [Luis] Suarez? And yet, he does.”

Ibrahimovic, who announced his international retirement after the European Championship in the summer, earned 116 caps and scored 62 goals for his nation between 2001 and 2016.