SHOULD John Guidetti end up playing alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic for Sweden this week, it could lay claim to be the most swaggering, self-assured strikeforce in world football.
Guidetti has lit up Scottish football both on and off the park since arriving at Celtic in the summer on loan from Manchester City - he's mercifully not one to ever keep his thoughts to himself - while Zlatan has also rarely been shy in venturing his opinions on a wide range of topics or delving into controversies. The prospect of any prolonged silence in the Swedish dressing room ahead of the matches away to Montenegro and then France seems fairly remote indeed.
If there was anyone likely to cause Guidetti to catch his tongue it may be Ibrahimovic, crowned Swedish player of the year this week for an eighth successive time. The 33-year-old is a national icon and has brought success to just about every club he has passed through. Since 2004, he has been part of a domestic league-winning side in 10 out of 11 seasons with six different clubs in four different countries (the titles won with Juventus in 2005 and 2006 were later revoked due to the Calciopoli scandal).
At international level, the numbers are just as impressive; the PSG forward earned his 100th cap in September and has scored 50 goals for his country. Guidetti, in stark contrast, has played just once for the senior Swedish side without scoring.
Guidetti, though, does not plan on changing for anyone. Not even for a man with his own stamp and word in the dictionary. "I'm always myself," he said. "If you try to walk through life always trying to change for other people then you will have nothing to do other than be an absolute schizophrenic.
"You just have to be yourself. If someone doesn't like you then at the end of the day that is their problem, not your problem. You can only be who you are and I have been the same person since I grew up, really. I was a cocky little s**t when I was three and I'm a cocky little s**t now. It's just me. Either you love me or you hate me but I am always going to be myself. I do it with a good heart. I try to do it with love."
There seemed little love, however, when Ibrahimovic delivered his verdict on Guidetti last year. "He's a big-mouthed blowhard who still has to prove himself and until he does that then he shouldn't be continually bragging from the highest tower," he said warmly of his compatriot.
Guidetti's subsequent form for Celtic has not gone unnoticed. "Now he's letting his feet do the talking," nodded Zlatan. "John's doing well now and that shows he listened [to me]. He's playing regularly and scoring goals. In this manner he's showing how the work must be done, namely by letting your feet do the talking and that's why he's been selected for the national team."
Guidetti is rather more deferential about Zlatan, a player he believes may even outrank Henrik Larsson as the greatest Swedish player of all time. "I've played with him before. He's a good guy but I don't know him really well. We're not buddies who go out for coffee. But he is an amazing player and probably the best Sweden has ever had.
"He is our captain and someone we respect on and off the pitch. Of course, he is someone you look up to and strive to be like. Is he better than Henrik? I don't know, it's tight. I think Henrik was unbelievable but Zlatan is hard to beat in Sweden. He has his own stamp, his own word in the dictionary. He is pretty big . . ."
Ibrahimovic's autobiography - helpfully titled "I Am Zlatan" - published last year is considered one of the finer recent exponents of the art and even prompted Guidetti to give it a bash. "I have read his book. It's one of the few books I have read. It's the only book I've read!
"It's a great story, a great book to read. He is a great character in Swedish football. As I said, I don't really hang out with him but he has been all right with me. He has been cool. We play the same position so he is always good talking to you."
Guidetti has other international commitments on the horizon. The Swedish under-21 side will face England, Italy and Portugal in next summer's European Championship finals in June and the forward plans on being a part of it. "It's an honour to be called up for your country, of course. But we have done such great things with the under-21s that we have things to look forward to there.
"We play the Euro finals next summer and the first team was not in my mind. It's a bonus."
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