BARCELONA, Spain – Zlatan Ibrahimovic signed a five-year contract with Barcelona after passing a medical test on Monday.
The Sweden striker completed the Spanish champions’ most expensive transfer, a 46 million euro (C$69.3 million) move from Inter Milan. He was presented to more than 40,000 fans at Camp Nou stadium wearing the No. 9 Barcelona jersey.
The 27-year-old Ibrahimovic is contracted at Barcelona through to 2014. He has a buy-out clause at 250 million euros (C$385 million).
Barcelona’s Cameroon striker, Samuel Eto’o, is set to join Inter as part of the deal, while Belarus midfielder Aleksandr Hleb will go on loan to the Italian club for one season.
“I haven’t come to replace Eto’o because I’m a very different player,” Ibrahimovic said. “I’m going to work to the maximum to demonstrate you haven’t made a mistake in signing me. Thanks to Inter Milan for allowing me to sign for Barcelona. This is a very big day for me.”
Barcelona said Ibrahimovic has a broken finger on his left hand and will require surgery. The injury happened during Inter’s last friendly, against Chelsea in Los Angeles last week.
“It will require setting surgically, which will be done tomorrow at noon,” technical secretary Txiki Beguiristain said.
Ibrahimovic became Barcelona’s third signing this summer as part of coach Pep Guardiola’s bid to strengthen a team that last season won an unprecedented treble of Spanish, Champions League and Copa del Rey titles.
The other two new players are both from Brazil – Maxwell also moved from Inter, while Keirrison signed from Palmeiras.
Ibrahimovic moved from Ajax to Juventus in 2004 before spending the next three seasons at Inter, leading Serie A in scoring with 25 goals as the Nerazzurri won a fourth straight league title last season.
Ibrahimovic, who is of Bosnian and Croatian ancestry, never hid his desire to leave Italian football.
“When did I start thinking about moving somewhere else? In December, before Christmas,” he reportedly said. “The more I saw Barcelona play, the more I wanted to leave. I was fed up of Italy, of Milan, of your football: you play badly, there’s too much stress.”
Ibrahimovic had also posted “Time to learn Spanish” on his Twitter page.
Luciano Moggi, Juventus’ former director who signed Ibrahimovic from Ajax, said Inter have all but handed the Scudetto to Juve.
“Inter have committed suicide by selling Ibrahimovic,” Moggi said. “They have sold their leader. Eto’o is a great player, but he is a player that does well when the team is doing well. Ibrahimovic can make the difference even when a team is playing badly.”
