'Ted Lasso' cast breaks down the season's biggest change for AFC Richmond: Zava

Move over Jamie Tartt, AFC Richmond has a new star player.

Known monomynously as Zava, the football legend brings swagger and arrogance to the show, filling up the space that has slowly been vacated by Jamie over the course of the show as his character has evolved.

Episode Two of "Ted Lasso" begins with the buzz of the player's potential trade, and Episode Three follows his entrance to the team. Even the other players, most notably Cristo Fernandez's Dani Rojas, are starstruck.

By Episode Four, he has carved out his own meditative space and shrine to himself in the locker room.

Now, it seems like AFC Richmond's strategy has shifted from prioritizing an 11-strong team to just leading with one. And the jealousy is already settling in for Jamie, actor Phil Dunster tells TODAY.com.

"He's been trying his best to be one out of 11, rather than one in a million," Dunster says. "And he seems to be in a much better place with it, and then Zava comes along."

Jamie finding himself usurped by Zava echoes Roy Kent's arc in Season One, as the formerly egotistical star threatened his leadership.

"He's tussling with that thing of, 'Here's someone who's deemed to be special,' which is what he once thought he was," Dunster says.

Zava will challenge Jamie's character development so far, Dunster says.

"He is trying to make sure that we don't need to play to any one person in particular — we play as a team," Dunster says. "It's really tested."

Kola Bokinni, who plays team captain Isaac McAdoo, describes the addition of Zava as adding "too many cooks" into a kitchen.

"Jamie is the head chef, you know, the big cheese, all that kind of stuff," Bokinni says. "And then someone comes along who is a bigger cheese."

"I feel like you love cheese," Fernandez chimes in, with a laugh.

Who is Zava, and is he based on a real soccer player?

AFC Richmond's new star forward is played by Maximilian Osinski. At first, Rupert (Anthony Head) appeals to the player to join his club, West Ham United. But Rebecca, knowing that the addition would make her ex-husband's team unstoppable, steps in and convinces Zava to take a chance on her low-ranked team.

Oskinski told USA Today that the character of Zava was based on Eric Cantona from France, Polish striker Robert Lewandowski and primarily, Zlatan Ibrahimović of Sweden, also a striker.

The "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." actor read Ibrahimović's book and watched documentaries to prepare for the role of Zava, he said.

He even resembles the Swedish legend. Both tall and lean, Zava and Ibrahimović also wear their hair pulled into a slick man bun.

But while Ibrahimović is one of soccer's most renowned players, Osinski had never played the game before.

“I was born in a refugee camp in Austria after my parents fled Poland and grew up in Chicago," he told USA Today. "I can throw a football and play basketball. But I never played soccer.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com