Zlatan Ibrahimovic rejoining AC Milan with former club struggling

Milan are languishing in 11th place in Serie A and lost 5-0 to Atalanta on Saturday

Zlatan Ibrahimovic playing for AC Milan in 2011. AFP

Veteran striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic is returning to help his struggling former club AC Milan.

The 38-year-old Swede has agreed a deal until the end of the season with the option to extend the contract for another season, the Italian club announced in a statement Friday.

Ibrahimovic scored 56 goals in 85 appearances for the club and helped it to win the league title in 2011 and the Italian Super Cup the same year.

Although he then moved to Paris Saint-Germain, and subsequently to Manchester United and the LA Galaxy, he always spoke fondly of his time with the Rossoneri and left the door open for a move back.

“I’m coming back to a club I hugely respect and to the city of Milan I love,“ he said after rejoining. “I’ll fight together with my teammates to change the course of this season. I will do everything to make it happen”.

Having also played for cross-city rival Inter Milan and Juventus, Ibrahimovic has been named the best player in Serie A three times and best foreign player five times.

The deal is subject to medical examination and Ibrahimovic will be in Milan on January 2 to take it, before joining his teammates for his first training session.

His arrival will be a boost for seven-time European champion Milan, which is mired in 11th place — a humiliating 21 points behind leader Inter — and endured its heaviest league defeat in 21 years when it lost 5-0 at Atalanta on Sunday.