Former Chelsea, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain coach Carlo Ancelotti reveals in his new book on management what it is like to work with Manchester United target Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

The enigmatic Swede has also contributed to the book about the managers he has played for during his career including incoming United boss Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic will leave Paris Saint-Germain this summer and has been linked with Manchester United

Jose Mourinho, pictured leaving his London home on Wednesday, will take over the reins at Old Trafford

CARLO ANCELOTTI ON ZLATAN

Subtlety is not Zlatan's strongest suit. One day on the training ground, Ibra thought that one of the young players had not given his best to the session.

At the end of training Ibra called this guy over and said, 'Now, you have to go home and write in your diary that you trained with Zlatan today, because I think it could be the last time that you do.'

Maybe he's not so diplomatic, but he's a winner. The biggest problem I had with him was on the training ground.

Even at the training sessions he didn't want to lose anything — ever. He's always fighting, always 100 per cent. He can only be one way, direct.

If he doesn't like something, he's going to tell you. With the young players he could be too strong, so I told him that he had to take care of them because he was an example for them. I explained that a bit of subtlety was required, as it is not always effective to speak too strongly with the young.

He was never afraid to speak the truth to anyone, even me. On one occasion we were speaking about Hernan Crespo who was, in my opinion, an outstanding striker. When I asked Ibra what he thought, he said, 'Yes, he's a striker, but he cannot make the difference. There are only three players who make the difference: Ibrahimovic, Messi and Ronaldo.'

Carlo Ancelotti (left) signed the enigmatic Swede in 2012 while at PSG and has revealed what the striker is like

He once claimed to Ancelotti that only him, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo can make the difference

IBRAHIMOVIC'S SCORING RECORD Malmo: 47 appearances, 18 goals Ajax: 110 apps, 48 goals Juventus: 92 apps, 26 goals Inter Milan: 117 apps, 66 goals Barcelona: 46 apps, 22 goals AC Milan: 85 apps, 56 goals PSG: 180 apps, 156 goals Advertisement

Such is his confidence, and he is correct to think it. Ibra is one of the few strikers, maybe the only one, who is just as happy when he makes an assist as he is when he scores.

He is one of the most unselfish players I have met, which is of massive value to the team.

At Paris Saint-Germain I began to bring in players with the right mentality. In the first summer we signed Zlatan, a top player and highly professional.

Sometimes it's the players who have to be the leaders, not the manager, and Ibrahimovic immediately became the leader in the dressing room. It was why I wanted him.

I spoke with him and explained the situation at the club and how important he could be in the dressing room.

Ibrahimovic was in marvellous form for PSG this season with the striker notching 50 goals in all competitions

Ancelotti, who will take charge of Bayern Munich next season, has hailed his former striker's leadership

'You can be a good example for all the others,' I said. 'You have experience, talent, personality; you have character and in this sense you can be fantastic.'

Sometimes too much is made of the captaincy in football but it can be important. Some players want to be captain and they grow even more if you give it to them.

Other don't want, or need, to be captain — they are the natural leaders.

When I offered Ibrahimovic the captaincy at PSG, he refused it, saying he was not sure how long he would stay at the club, so to be captain would be wrong. But that didn't stop him being a natural leader through his personality.

The striker looks set be reunited with former boss Mourinho - who he worked with at Serie A side Inter Milan

The former Ajax striker tweeted on his departure from French giants PSG 'I came like a king, I left like a legend'

I FELT LIKE A SCHOOL KID PLAYING FOR PEP

ZLATAN ON PEP GUARDIOLA

After Jose Mourinho I went to Pep Guardiola, the big brain in football. He had all these solutions for every team we played, knowing exactly what we needed to do to win, exactly how he wanted it achieved.

We could be 2-0 up at half-time, but he would say, 'We're not finished here — we continue. I want three, four, five, six, seven.' He was like a machine. As a person, however, he was something else.

As a coach, he's fantastic but as a person, we didn't see eye to eye on many things. It was like a school and we, the players, were the schoolboys. This type of environment does not suit me.

Ibrahimovic has been critical of Pep Guardiola (left) but was full of praise for his former Inter boss Mourinho

The striker was signed by then Barcelona boss Guardiola in 2009 but struggled to impress the Spanish coach

STAT ATTACK 49 - Manchester United scored 49 goals in the Premier League this season, one fewer than Ibrahimovic in all competitions Advertisement

Even after Guardiola, when Barcelona lost so badly to Bayern Munich, 7–0 in the Champions League, nothing changed.

Because they'd had such success for the 10 years before that game, they treated it as a one-off. They are so strong and confident that they believe in themselves and just follow the system all the time. This works for them but not so well for me.

Barcelona have always had a world-class team, but under Guardiola the system stayed the same. Outside of this system, and outside of his huge footballing brain, I cannot agree that Guardiola is the same quality as Carlo Anceotti. So, later, after I had this experience with Guardiola, I met Carlo. I got a complete person and a coach.

Guardiola, who led Bayern to the domestic double this season, will take over the reins at Manchester City

Adapted from Quiet Leadership: Winning hearts, minds and matches by Carlo Ancelotti. To order your copy for £16.99, visit www.mailbookshop.co.uk or call 0844 571 0640

JOSE LIKES TO MANIPULATE - HIS GAMES WORK FOR ME

ZLATAN ON MOURINHO

Jose Mourinho is the disciplinarian. Everything with him is a mind game — he likes to manipulate. Such tricks were new for me, all the time doing one thing to get another thing, all the time triggering me.

I like these games and they worked for me — I was top scorer under him and we won the league.

The way Mourinho prepared for games was also new to me. I would get pumped up, believing the story he would feed us. I went through a lot of adrenaline when I played for him. It was like nothing was ever good enough.

He gave and he took. Jose Mourinho knows how to treat a footballer, but Carlo Ancelotti knows how to treat a person.

He is always well-informed about opponents, going through their every weakness and every quality, and then the way he wanted the game to be. If he wanted to kill the game, he'd kill the game; if he wanted the game to be open, it would be open.

For Mourinho, it was all about winning. He knows that winning is the only thing, though it seems his third season at clubs often presents a problem for him.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic (right) arrives for Sweden training in Stockholm ahead of Euro 2016 in France

Mourinho and Ibrahimovic chat during a training session while the pair were at Inter Milan together