PICTURE: The Guardian.
IN THIS new series on AFEFootballNews, I will bringing you some of the weirdest, funniest and most bizarre stories involving the beautiful game from all around the world.
Starting with one that was very close to home for me … enjoy!
A YEAR or so ago, just when I had began working for the North Wales Chronicle, one of the world’s most famous and talented footballers visited a tiny village on the Isle of Anglesey.
Bizarrely, Swedish international Zlatan Ibrahimovic, one of the best strikers of the past decade, came to Llanerch-y-medd to see a man about a dog.
The 36-year-old had signed for Premier League giants Manchester United in the summer prior to visiting my island and had formerly play for the likes of AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain.
The 6ft 5′ striker had, over the years, established himself as a household name in football, scoring over 200 career goals even before making his move to Old Trafford.
Ibra had reportedly decided to make the trip to the northern realms of Wales to visit respected breeders “Isgraig Bulldogs”, otherwise known as Sheila and Bill Roberts, to talk about the prospect of buying one of their dogs off them.
At first, many had found it hard to believe that a superstar such as Ibra could come to our little island. But then, reports of the curious incident began to grow.
Ibrahimovic was reported to have stopped by the house in Llanerchymedd along with his wife Helena Seger and the pair even took photos with the family.
As interest in the story grew however, reporters who spread the story around were informed that they did not have the correct permission to publish articles/photos of the player and they subsequently had to be removed from various websites.
All that remains of Ibra’s visit is this picture (above) of him holding a CPD Llanerchymedd FC shirt as proof that he did indeed visit the village. One to tell the grandkids about I think …
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