Capello: Ibrahimovic Will Become Stronger Than Van Basten

Former Milan and Juventus coach Fabio Capello has always been an admirer of new Barcelona star Zlatan Ibrahimovic. He tried to sign him from Ajax during his period as Roma coach, and finally got to work with him at Juve between 2004 and 2006.

The current England boss thinks the former Inter man can become greater than Dutch legend Marco Van Basten, a player he also worked with in the early 1990s when he coached Milan.

"When Zlatan arrived in Italy he was a rough diamond," Capello said to La Repubblica. "But now he is very complete, the best striker in the world and he's impossible to mark inside the area. I know comparing Van Basten to Ibrahimovic is like comparing Picasso to Rothko, but I believe that because of his power and his technique Zlatan will become stronger than Marco.

"Zlatan needed to learn and mature, but he's an intelligent lad. He also has an incredible gift for maintaining his position, freeing himself from defenders and at the same time seeing a pass, a space or a chance to shoot."

The highly respected coach continued to compare the two players, "Marco was born with the ball at his feet, in his case it's something innate. Meanwhile, Zlatan was too in love with the ball, it seemed like he enjoyed more playing tricks with the ball than trying to shoot.

"That changed when I showed him Van Basten's videos. Since then he plays much closer to the penalty box. What Van Basten and Ibra have in common is their natural elegance. We're talking about giants who are like poetry in movement."

Danilo Pochini, Goal.com