Zlatan was close to a move to Napoli

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

’s new book ‘Adrenaline: My untold story’ is going to be released tomorrow and the

striker had an in-depth interview with

Corriere della Sera

.

The 40-year-old admitted that he was on the verge of making a move to

before joining the Rossoneri in 2020.

The veteran has since been playing a key role for his side, with Stefano Pioli’s men fighting for the

title and playing in the Champions League in 2021-22.

However, Zlatan revealed that

Diego Maradona

inspired him and he was keen on making a move to the Partenopei.

“

Maradona is a legend,”

Ibrahimovic said.

“I watched a documentary about him and decided to go to Napoli, to do like Diego: win the Scudetto.

“I was tired of America. I thought I would quit. Raiola told me: ‘You’re crazy, you have to go back to Italy’.

“It had reached an agreement with Napoli, but then [President Aurelio] De Laurentiis kicked out [Carlo] Ancelotti.

“I asked Mino: ‘Which team is worse off, that I can change?’ He replied: ‘Yesterday, Milan lost 5-0 in Bergamo’. It was decided, I said: ‘Let’s go to Milan. It’s a club I know, a city I like’.”

He was quizzed about the battle against Romelu Lukaku, with both being guilty of unsporting behaviour after the Coppa Italia quarter-final clash on January 26.

At the end of the first half, the two were involved in a scuffle, going face-to-face, before the Belgian striker was physically restrained by Inter players.

“

The Coppa Italia derby,”

Ibrahimovic said.

“He first argued with [Alessio] Romagnoli, then with [Alexis] Saelemaekers.

“I intervened to defend my teammates and Lukaku attacked me on a personal level. I was shocked. We ever were teammates at Manchester United.

“Lukaku has a great ego, he thinks he’s a champion and he’s really strong. But I grew up in the Malmö ghetto, and when someone comes under me with his head down, I put him in his place.

“So, I hit him in his sweet spot: his Mum’s rituals. And he lost control. Although, I still have a terrible doubt… we lost that derby. I was sent off. Then I got injured. A lot of bad things happened. You’ll see that the Lukaku rituals really got me?

“I asked my believing friends to pray for me. I have to settle the bill with him too. I hope to meet him soon. On the street? No, these are things that must be resolved on the pitch. I don’t hate anyone, much less Lukaku.”

The Sweden international contributed to the Serie A title win at Mian during Allegri’s reign and talked about the Juventus boss, who replaced Andrea Pirlo before the start of the current season.

Zlatan thinks Allegri ought to have made a move to Real Madrid when he could, but he believes Allegri made the ‘more comfortable’ choice.

“

With Milan, we had lost 3-0 to Arsenal in the Champions League and he was all happy,”

Ibrahimovic said.

“It’s true that we went through, but there was nothing to laugh about, and I pointed it out to him.

“He told me to think about myself, that I played bad. I replied that he did bad: over fear he had brought two goalkeepers on the bench…

“Allegri is very good at managing the locker room, but he had to have more courage. He should have gone to Real Madrid, to measure himself in foreign countries. Instead, he made the comfortable choice.”

Follow

for the