Tottenham's Dejan Kulusevski has admitted he was in awe of Cristiano Ronaldo at Juventus and described compatriot Zlatan Ibrahimovic as an "animal".
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Kulusevski in awe of RonaldoCalls compatriot Zlatan an 'animal'Tottenham man influenced by duoGetty ImagesWHAT HAPPENED?
The Sweden international has become a key player at Spurs, but when he was at Juventus, Ronaldo had a big impact on the forward in the 2020-21 season due to his professionalism and dedication to football. The 23-year-old, who joined Tottenham permanently in 2023 after a loan spell, also spoke about how fellow Swede Ibrahimovic played a part in how he became the footballer he is today.
Advertisement(C)GettyImagesWHAT DEJAN KULUSEVSKI SAID
Speaking to The Players Tribune, he said: "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. 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."
Getty ImagesTHE BIGGER PICTURE
Both Ibrahimovic and Ronaldo will go down as legends of the game and their considerable talents will have undoubtedly gone onto inspire countless youngsters to take up the sport. Ronaldo is still going strong at the age of 39 with Saudi Pro League outfit Al-Nassr, while Ibrahimovic is back at Milan in an advisory role after retiring from football at the age of 41.
WHAT NEXT?
Kulusevski is likely to feature for Tottenham away to London neighbours Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday evening, whereas Ronaldo's Al-Nassr will take on Al-Ahli in the Saudi Pro League on Friday night.