“I think I was almost this tall, 1.94m [6ft 4in] but like 25kg [4st] less,” says Pontus Jansson, smiling as he recalls his previous life as a prodigious striker. For an 18-year-old in the academy at Malmö, whose club crest is emblazoned on his right arm, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was a natural source of inspiration but at the start of a title-winning 2010 season, the defender Jasmin Sudic suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury and Jansson was asked to fill in at centre-back. “I was like ‘no problem’ because I was that proud to be in the first team because it was the team of my heart. I could have been the fifth-choice striker for the rest of my career just to be in that team, that was enough for me at the time.”

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These days, his ambitions are far grander. Jansson, who turns 29 on Thursday, is determined to lead a vibrant Brentford side into the Premier League but when time permits he returns to his Swedish roots, making use of his season ticket by joining the ultras on the terraces. “I always travelled to away games and at home would stand with the fans that sing but when I signed for Malmö I needed to be in the VIP section with the Under-17s and Under-19s, but I didn’t really like that. When I was injured or suspended, I really wanted to go in there but it wasn’t right to do it. But now every time I have chance to go back, I always stand with them and sing. There is always 10 people standing in the space of five seats, but that doesn’t matter.”

When it comes to Ibrahimovic, one November night in Stockholm sticks in the memory – Jansson’s Sweden debut in 2012, when the striker hit four goals against England, including an exquisite overhead-kick. “It was quite funny because I remember before the game English fans were always talking shit about Zlatan and after he just came into the dressing room like a boss and said: ‘What can I say now?’” says Jansson, who is set to be part of Sweden’s squad at Euro 2020 this summer.

“I am absolutely buzzing for him now in Milan, scoring goals and playing football again at the highest level because he has been my idol since I was young and I have followed him throughout his career. But it has changed a little bit, I mean with what happened with Malmö and when he invested in a rival to us. But still, that is how he is as a businessman and as a footballer I still adore him.”

Ibrahimovic’s involvement with Hammarby has left Jansson torn and supporters sore since November, when the striker declared Malmö’s top-flight rivals could become “the biggest club in Scandinavia”, prompting angry fans to decapitate a 500kg bronze statue depicting their former striker, which had been unveiled outside the Malmö Stadion to much fanfare a month earlier.

“The son of Malmö, Zlatan, going to invest in another club and saying I want to make them the biggest in Scandinavia, I think it hurts in the hearts of the Malmö fans. And even me – I don’t want to see him do that. He is not as big in Malmö as he was before, that’s just a fact, that’s how it is. He has so much money already, it is not as though he needs to invest, so I understand why Malmö fans are angry but vandalism and racism are not acceptable.”

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There is so much to talk to Jansson about: from how to stop Brentford’s BMW frontline of Saïd Benrahma, Bryan Mbeumo and Ollie Watkins in training to laughing about being outnumbered in the dressing room by several Danes, including the head coach, Thomas Frank – “I am on my own against seven or eight Danish players” – but with his former club Leeds at Griffin Park on Tuesday and Jansson set to return from a hip injury, conversation sticks on those recurring accusations of burnout under Marcelo Bielsa.

After a 2-0 defeat at Nottingham Forest on Saturday Leeds have won two of their past 11 matches.

“If you look at the Arsenal game [in the FA Cup], I was there at the Emirates and Leeds played fantastic. It was the same against QPR, when they lost 1-0. They were good enough to win so sometimes it is just small things.

“Maybe not so much in this time of year – I think this time of year I was flying, playing really good – but around March and the beginning of April, especially after the international break, I felt really tired.

“Maybe that was because I became a father and maybe I was not sleeping as well, but you would have to ask every individual to get a true answer. Towards the end of last season I felt more mentally tired than physically tired. Maybe it is a common thing and this year it is happening the same as last year for them, but it is difficult to say.”

Jansson insists his reluctance to allow Aston Villa to score an equaliser at Elland Road in April at Bielsa’s request did not blemish his relationship with the Argentinian, despite being allowed to join Brentford on a three-year contract three months later.

Leeds had taken the lead when Villa had a player down injured and asked for the game to be stopped. Bielsa then instructed his players to allow Villa to score but Jansson was not happy with this and attempted an unsuccessful one-man mission to prevent the goal.

“I grew a lot last season, the things that I learned from him and we learned as a team, they are things I will take with me for the rest of my life. I learned so much: how to take care of your body; how well-trained you have to be to play in such a good team; how you have to be on the pitch both physically and mentally; how to learn to read the game, so many things that you could learn from. He also had bad sides – every person has a bad side – but there are so many things I learned from Bielsa.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Pontus Jansson (left) in discussion with Marcelo Bielsa (fourth from the left) during the game against Aston Villa in April, 2019. Photograph: Alex Dodd/CameraSport via Getty Images

Jansson is holding court in an unpretentious portable building on a crisp day at Brentford’s training ground, where planes on the final descent into Heathrow hang overhead. He is a towering figure but a gentle giant, warm company and after this interview he gives a thumbs-up to an autograph hunter cradling a Brentford shirt. Asked if he feels misunderstood, Jansson pauses for thought. “Yeah, but that’s an easy thing to do, especially nowadays with social media because it is so easy to find one bad thing about a player and you can spread it around the country and around the world.

“I have done some bad things on the pitch, like the Aston Villa incident, but that is just how I am. On the pitch maybe I am not the best person but off the pitch I am always respectful. Maybe it has changed a little bit over the years. When I came three years ago, I needed to come into the league and make myself a name but now, four years later, I am more taking care of my teammates as a captain and trying to help them perform well than looking to myself.”

His impact at Brentford is clear – they boast the Championship’s best defensive record – and he has big hopes for this season. “If I could choose the top two teams to go up, I’d choose us and them [Leeds], of course,” Jansson says. “I still have Leeds on my heart – that does not change just because I left. I will love Leeds until I die, and the same with Brentford. But I’d be lying if I said I don’t want Leeds to lose every game now, because I want us to pass them in the table.

“I still have a lot of friends in the team, I talk to the owner and some of the staff, so I want the best for them, but it is difficult when you are fighting against them for the top two spots.”