‘To have been part of Zlatan’s career when he was still growing into the player he became, it’s something that makes me happy’ Jari Litmanen on playing alongside a young Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Zlatan Ibrahimovic while playing for Ajax.

Few clubs in European football have been as effective at spotting young talent than Ajax.

The club’s history is littered with stories of young players either coming up through their youth ranks or heralded gems being scouted from all corners of Europe and beyond.

Jari Litmanen is a textbook example of this, with the Finnish icon arriving from MyPa as a 21-year-old in 1992, quickly going on to establish himself as one of the continent’s best players and the creative lynchpin of the dynamic young side that romped to the Champions League in 1995.

Litmanen on linking up with Zlatan

Litmanen during his second spell at Ajax

Litmanen would spend seven brilliant years at Ajax before leaving for Barcelona in 1999, which was followed by a short stint at Liverpool, during which time he struggled with injuries.

At the end of his time at Anfield, Litmanen made the decision to return to Ajax, receiving a hero’s welcome and helping the side reach the quarter-finals of the 2002/03 Champions League. During that time, he also played alongside the club’s next promising Scandinavian star, a certain Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

“The two of us had a good relationship – we connected well on and off the field,” Litmanen recalls to FourFourTwo. “I did what [boss Ronald] Koeman wanted from me – to help the young players.

“That summer when I arrived, Ajax hinted that Zlatan could leave if a good offer came in for him, because his previous season hadn’t gone as expected.

“But that season turned out to be his breakthrough – he started to show the qualities that later made him one of the best strikers in the world.

“To have been part of his career during that period, when he was still growing into the player he became, is something that makes me happy.”

During this time Ibrahimovic’s star was rising, not least because of goals like the one her scored against NAC Breda in August 2004, when he jinked past five opponents to score, drawing comparisons to Diego Maradona and Zinedine Zidane.

Ibrahimovic won the first of his 12 domestic league titles at Ajax

The Swede would leave the Netherlands for Italy shortly after that goal in a €16million move to Juventus, and a career which saw Ibrahimovic win 12 domestic league titles in four countries was well underway.

For Litmanen, his second spell at Ajax saw him continue to battle injuries and he would be released from his contract in the spring of 2004.

Short stints back in Finland, Sweden, Germany and in the Premier League with Fulham followed before he hung up his boots in October 2011.