Former Manchester United and Atletico Madrid forward Diego Forlan has signed a new deal — as The National Sport’s new weekly football columnist.
The 35-year-old will offer his thoughts every Thursday (to appear in Friday’s print edition) on football’s biggest talking points.
To kick it all off, Forlan’s focus will be on Manchester United striker Radamel Falcao, a player he has a lot in common with as a fellow South American trying to overcome a rocky start to life at Old Trafford.
Forlan began his career at Argentine club Independiente in 1997 where he spent five years before earning his move to Premier League giants United in 2002.
After two-and-a-half years at United, Forlan moved to Villarreal, and it was while he was at the Spanish club, he emerged as one of the finest forwards in European football.
In his first season, Forlan scored 25 league goals to end the Spanish Liga season as top-scorer and joint-European Golden Boot winner with Thierry Henry.
After another two seasons and 29 league goals, Forlan left Villarreal for Atletico Madrid in June 2007.
His first season wielded 16 league goals, but that was nothing compared to his second year at the Vicente Calderón where he scored an incredible 32 goals in 33 league games during the 2008-09 season. Unsurprisingly, another La Liga top-scorer award and European Golden Boot double followed.
The next season, Forlan helped Atletico to win the Europa League title ahead of what would prove to be a stunning 2010 World Cup for Uruguay.
Forlan finished joint-top scorer with five goals, helping Uruguay to a fourth-place finish and was awarded the Golden Ball as the tournament’s best player.
A final season with Atletico followed before a single season at Serie A side Internazionale in 2011 and Brazilian club Internacional in 2012.
Since January 2014, Forlan has been plying his trade in the Japanese J-League with Cerezo Osaka.
Follow us on Twitter @SprtNationalUAE
