Two years ago, Zlatan Ibrahimovic arrived at the LA Galaxy with a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times, a hype video in which he co-starred alongside an actual, real-life lion and a fantastically egotistical, undeniably Ibra tagline of “Los Angeles, Welcome to Zlatan.”



The move and the marketing campaign were impossible to ignore. Zlatan was Zlatan after all, and, at least for those delirious first few weeks, Zlatan was King of LA. He made the rounds on late-night talk shows, played up his own persona with outlandish quotes and announced himself on the field with an unforgettable double to lift the Galaxy to a miraculous 4-3 win in their first match against LAFC.



The buzz was unmatched. MLS hadn’t seen anything like it since David Beckham joined the Galaxy in 2007. In terms of generating publicity, it seemed only Messi or Ronaldo could’ve done more. Considering his willingness and ability to self-promote, even those two might have...