WHEN Eric Cantona went to Manchester United in 1992, he was the catalyst for a stunning era of trophies.
To United fans, he remains a footballing God for the way he transformed the club — and launched the most successful period in their history.
It’s no surprise they still sing his name today, two decades after he shocked the world with his out-of-the-blue retirement.
But while Eric will always be an Old Trafford legend, he now has genuine competition as a United cult hero.
And I don’t just use Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s EFL Cup final heroics as evidence of that — it’s virtually everything he’s done since arriving last summer.
When he joined, some were a bit sceptical, wondering if he was just after one final payday before hanging up his boots.
They dismissed his near goal-a-game record for Paris Saint-Germain by claiming “It was only in Ligue 1”.
They said the same when Henrik Larsson was scoring for fun at Celtic.
And he went on to win the Champions League with Barcelona before a two-month loan at United which fans still remember fondly.
Well, any suspicions about Zlatan were blown out of the water within a month of his first appearance. And it has been like that ever since.
So much so, that I now believe that he is United’s modern-day Cantona.
A man who has gone to one of the world’s greatest clubs and shaken up the whole place.
Sir Alex Ferguson once said of Cantona that he went to United and it was as though he thought, “Is this club big enough for me?” I get the impression Zlatan did just that, too.
It takes a special kind of player to make such an impact. This is a club up there with Real Madrid and Barcelona among the biggest three in the world.
Consider the fact Zlatan is 35, and that really is astonishing. Especially when you keep hearing about how he is setting fitness records at that age.
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I’ve had some people say to me they think having Zlatan at the club is holding back young lads like Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial — but I’m not having that at all.
Of course they will be frustrated at not playing as much as they’d like.
But holding them back? Not a bit of it.
Just look at what they are learning from working alongside him every day.
What they are picking up from every aspect of the game. How he handles himself, how he trains, how he sets sky-high standards, how he is performing.
And, of course, how he keeps putting the ball in the net.
His Wembley double made it 26 for the season. That’s more than any other player in the Premier League has managed — an astonishing achievement.
Ask any of United’s famous Class of 92, and they say how much they learned from Cantona — in some cases second only to Fergie himself.
In years to come, the youngsters at Old Trafford will be saying the same about Zlatan and probably even the already established stars like Paul Pogba.
United still have a way to go before they are right back at the top but you just sense a wave of belief about the place again.
They have momentum, Jose Mourinho has his first trophy, and I think they will break into the top four before long as well.
United really are on the way back and Zlatan has played a Cantona-sized role in that.
Having played against Eric and seen the adoration he commanded — still does — he will always be THE No 1.
But no one will ever push him closer than Zlatan.
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