Former France rugby international Sebastien Chabal says that Zlatan Ibrahimovic gave him the impression that Paris Saint-Germain were like an "amateur club" when the Swedish star first arrived in France.
Ibrahimovic, 34, left AC Milan to join PSG in June 2012 and he has since gone on to become the French side's all-time leading goal scorer.
The Sweden captain met Chabal at a charity event in Paris on Monday and the giant pair squared off in boxing gear as part of their comedy sketch. Like Ibrahimovic, Chabal, 38, is one of the most widely-known sports personalities in France.
The iconic ex-Sale and Racing Metro player, now a pundit on RMC radio, found that Ibrahimovic was "really down to earth."
But Chabal was surprised by some of the things the PSG striker had said to him during their discussion. "He's really nice," Chabal told RMC.
"We talked a bit about PSG. He said it was a bit hard at the start. I had the impression that he had arrived at an amateur club from the way he was talking. He said that people were not all up to standard.
"He had arrived from Milan. I didn't know everything about the structures and for me PSG was a big club like Milan.
"But you had the impression that he had almost arrived at an amateur club.
"He said that today it's better, they're well organised and people are up to scratch. It was quite incredible to hear that."
PSG were taken over by Qatari investors in 2011 and at the end of Ibrahimovic's first season at the club they won their first Ligue 1 title in 19 years.
Recently the former Ajax and Barcelona player said he felt some of his teammates accepted defeat too readily when he first arrived. But PSG have since gone on to win six other major trophies during his four years in France.