Zlatan Ibrahimovic of Sweden before the international friendly between Sweden and Wales | Mikael Sjoberg/Ombrello viaGetty Images Zlatan Ibrahimović: I do more for France than François Hollande Swedish soccer star could make the president more popular ‘if I want to, but I am not sure I want to.’

Soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimović has done more for France than the country's president, François Hollande, he claimed in an interview published Tuesday.

The Swedish striker left the Paris Saint-Germain club at the end of last season and is likely to announce later Tuesday that he is joining Manchester United, but said his large tax payments meant he made a major contribution to French society, he told Le Monde.

"What sort of president is François Hollande? I help this country more than he does," Ibrahimović said.

Ibrahimović joined the Parisian club in 2012, the same year that Hollande became president. Asked how his own popularity in France — when he left PSG, the Swede proclaimed: "I came like a king, left like a legend" — contrasted with Hollande's dismal approval ratings, he said: "I can make him popular if I want, but I am not sure I want to." He didn't say how he could help Hollande improve his standing among voters.

Asked if Hollande should seek a second term as president in France's 2017 elections, Ibrahimović said: "To be honest, I don't know if he's done a good job. But that's for you, the French, to say."

Ibrahimović will return to France with the Swedish national team in the Euro 2016 championship, which kicks off on June 10.