As if failure to make Euro 2008 is not a source of enough regret in English football, two of London's leading clubs will tonight be handed a painful reminder of another missed opportunity.

Arsenal and Chelsea have both wanted to bring Zlatan Ibrahimovic to the Premier League in the past, but much to their frustration, the brilliant Swede has eluded them.

Ibrahimovic, 26, has courted controversy as regularly as he has fired in goals in his career, but the Inter Milan striker is ready to prove he is now Europe's best, starting against Greece in his country's opening Group D match.

His club certainly have a high opinion of their talisman, having rewarded him for his 22 goals last season with a new contract that has made him the best paid player in Serie A. The Swede has just signed a deal worth £9.5m-a-year that will keep him at the San Siro until 2013.

Yet it could have all been so different if Arsene Wenger had succeeded in persuading him to join Arsenal - and not Ajax - when he left Malmo in 2001.

He met the Frenchman for talks and was impressed with the Arsenal set-up but ended up going to Amsterdam simply because the Dutch club were quicker in agreeing a £5.5m deal.

Ibrahimovic certainly didn't have any objections to playing for Arsenal and said: "When I met with Arsene Wenger everything was fantastic. We had a good meeting but Ajax were the fastest to close a deal for me.

"Arsenal have a great school of young players. Wenger does a fantastic job and brings a lot of players through, but Ajax are the same. They develop small players into big players and you got to know the feeling of playing big games with them too. I don't have any regrets because I had a fantastic development at Ajax."

Chelsea have also made moves to sign Ibrahimovic in recent years and were believed to be targeting him as their replacement for Didier Drogba, only for him to commit his future to Inter.

It seems though that nothing will tempt him to make the move to England. Speaking recently, he said: "I think Italy is the place to be. I want football to be the main thing in my life for 24 hours and that's what the fans here are like. I don't think I will ever come to the Premier League. I feel fantastic at Inter, I see my future there and I have signed a long contract."

Wenger went to such lengths to convince him to join Arsenal seven years ago that he had Ibrahimovic's name printed on the No9 shirt, but the Frenchman also got to see a flash of the arrogance that has so often got him into trouble. When the then 18-year-old was asked by Wenger if he was afraid of anything, he replied: "No, only God."

Yet Ibrahimovic is no angel and he has had to overcome personal issues which have at various stages threatened to send him off the rails.

The first signs of trouble came in his childhood. While the son of a Bosnian father and Croatian mother enjoyed growing up in Rosengard, the rough neighbourhood of Malmo where he was born, his education didn't thrive. Indeed, his headmistress at the Sorgenfri school reportedly considered him "one of the worst five pupils" she had ever taught.

Problems with authority figures continued after he dropped out of school to concentrate on his football career and he was thrown out of Malmo's training ground after a bust-up with the goalkeepers Jonnie Fedel and Lee Baxter.

More bad headlines followed when he was arrested for impersonating a police officer and attempted to arrest a citizen who was allegedly kerb-crawling in Malmo's red-light district. He also caused consternation at an airport after asking if a security guard had found his gun.

However, Ibrahimovic has consistently remained a sure shot on the pitch and, after scoring 32 goals in 73 games to help Ajax win two titles, he joined Juventus for around £15m in 2004.

He helped them win Serie A twice before leaving for Inter following the match-fixing scandal, and it is no coincidence that they have won Serie A in both years he has been there leading the line.

Yet his record at international level has not been that of a top-class striker, having failed to score since October 2005, which included the last World Cup.

He was sent home by coach Lars Lagerback after breaking a curfew before a Euro 2008 qualifier against Liechtenstein in September 2006 and then protested against his punishment by refusing to play against Spain and Iceland. But the Swedes have since put the incident behind them last year and he is now desperate to help his country succeed like he has with his clubs.

He said: "Sooner or later I will score. I just keep trying to create as many chances for myself and my team-mates. The only pressure I feel is from myself because I want to play the same way for Sweden as you have seen me at Inter."

Greece are the reigning champions, but the first game of their defence in Salzburg this evening could be the beginning of the end if Ibrahimovic gets his way.