Zlatan Ibrahimovic's Prolific Form Gives PSG No Choice but to Offer Him New Deal

Paris Saint-Germain moved 24 points clear at the top of Ligue 1 with a 2-0 win away at AS Saint-Etienne on Sunday and in doing so, Laurent Blanc’s men equalled FC Nantes’ record of 32 games unbeaten in Le Championnat from back in the 1994-95 season.

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Once again, it was Zlatan Ibrahimovic who came up big for Les Parisiens when they were struggling against their determined hosts. The super Swede scored twice in the second half to secure the points and continue his fine run of form against Les Verts.

The 34-year-old now has 14 goals from 12 games against Christophe Galtier’s men across all competitions, the most he has managed against any one team throughout his entire career.

PSG coach Blanc preferred not to focus on the statistics and records coming out of the game, instead he chose to pay tribute to a Saint-Etienne side who made things difficult for PSG when speaking with the capital club’s official website:

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It's not the first time that we've struggled. Every team wants to get a result against Paris. They sit deep to defend and are very aggressive. It's important to win these types of matches. It proves that even with the team we put out tonight, we still manage to win. That might make our opponents thing. The record unbeaten run? I didn't know about that. What I saw is my team come here and win, and that's not easy.

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Ibrahimovic’s double at Stade Geoffroy-Guichard took the Swede’s impressive Ligue 1 figures to 19 goals and six assists from just 18 appearances this season.

Breaking the 30-goal barrier, something that he came close to doing in his debut season of 2012-13, seems to be a real possibility this term.

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With Edinson Cavani out of favour under Blanc and Ibrahimovic combining well with both Angel Di Maria and Lucas Moura, PSG’s front three appears settled. Despite his age, the talismanic No. 10 remains crucial to Le President and his plans for the team.

Ibrahimovic’s contract expires this summer and in his current form, PSG have little choice but to try to persuade the Sweden international to extend his stay at Parc des Princes by at least one more season.

It is not certain that the forward will accept, far from it in fact, but comments made by the player’s agent Mino Raiola to L’Equipe (h/t ESPN FC’s Mark Rodden) last week will have given the French champions hope that they can still keep their star man:

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All I can say is that Zlatan is very happy at PSG. But what's going to happen, only Zlatan and God know.

We have a fantastic relationship with the club. We know that we're going to decide the future of Zlatan together when it's time to.

He's coming to the end of his contract in Paris so everything that we decide will be done along with PSG. We're partners.

We're not going to set off a war for nothing. PSG have always acted nobly with Zlatan.

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PSG have been linked with moves for a number of big-name stars as possible replacements for Ibrahimovic in the past, but most of those routes appear complicated by a variety of different factors.

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Any potential pursuit of Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo, as reported by Joe Short of the Express, could be derailed by Los Blancos’ potentially sticky transfer situation with an impending FIFA ban.

PSG’s desire to lure Barcelona’s Neymar to Paris as an alternative to the Portuguese is mainly based on the hope that the Brazilian’s off-pitch tax issues force him out of Camp Nou, according to the Mirror’s Ed Malyon.

With the Scandinavian superstar still in such decisive form and no guarantee that the French giants will be able to replace him with a star of similar stature, the best option available to PSG at this moment is to try to keep their all-time top scorer for at least one more season.

If Les Parisiens are not seen to at least try to keep hold of Ibrahimovic while he is in this sort of form, then big questions would be asked next campaign if the former AC Milan man has gone elsewhere and is still displaying the same insatiable appetite for goal that he is showing at present.