Zlatan Ibrahimovic declares he will be 'God of Manchester'

Above kings are only the Gods.

So when Eric Cantona, the long-serving king of Manchester United, in spite of playing there for only 4½ seasons — including an eight-month ban for karate-kicking a fan in the stands — declared the club’s ballyhooed new signing Zlatan Ibrahimovic a prince, it was only natural that the eccentric Swede should take issue with that designation.

In a bizarre video, covering several topics, Cantona — who once insulted the Pope live on French television and held several jobs since retiring at age 30, but none for very long — delivers a rambling message to Ibrahimovic, the 34-year-old superstar striker who joins United from Paris Saint-Germain.

(At 2:03.)

“I have a personal message for Zlatan,” Cantona says, sitting in a chair with his shirt unbuttoned while whacking a cane into the ground as he speaks. “You decided to go red. It is the best choice you ever made.” After waxing poetic for a bit — or trying to, anyway — about playing at Old Trafford, he declares that “there can only be one king in Manchester.”

“You can be the prince if you want to,” Cantona continues. Then he shrugs, before offering Ibrahimovic his old number seven, which is almost certainly not his to offer — especially since Memphis Depay currently has it on his jersey. “This is my welcome gift to you. The king is gone. Long live the prince!”

Zlatan, not to be out-Zlataned, wasted no time in asserting the real hierarchy, according to Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet. “I admire Cantona,” he said. “And I heard what he said. But I won’t be king of Manchester. I will be God of Manchester.”

Zlatan, after all, has already passed the king stage of his career.

Oh, as an aside: while he was playing, some United fans took to calling Cantona “Dieu.” French for God.

Leander Schaerlaeckens is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. Follow him on Twitter @LeanderAlphabet.