Diego Forlan writes a weekly column for The National, appearing each Friday. The former Manchester United, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid striker has been the top scorer in Europe twice and won the Golden Boot at the 2010 World Cup. Forlan’s column will be written with the assistance of European football correspondent Andy Mitten.
Chelsea and Manchester City are teams I expect to challenge for the Premier League title. If Manchester United buy a striker who knows how to score in England then that would make a difference, but champions Chelsea will be very hard to overcome.
If Pedro joins United then they’ll get a great player, but United need a goalscorer to help Rooney or create competition for their captain to keep him at his best. They’re also not settled like the current champions.
United are in transition and the summer signings look solid, but Chelsea finished 17 points ahead of United and I think they’re still improving, with a core of players in their mid-twenties.
They don’t have the individual talents of Barcelona or Real Madrid, but Chelsea are organised, know how to win and are hard to beat. Jose Mourinho is more important than any player, he sets the tone at the club, he rules with authority and he makes few changes and knows what it takes to win the title.
Diego Costa had a great first season in England — and that’s very hard to do after playing elsewhere. Radamel Falcao saw how hard it can be and he struggled at United, but can he get back to his best under Mourinho? That’s going to be one of the most interesting things to see.
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While I can see sense in signing Falcao, the signs haven’t looked good. Even when Falcao was back among friends in the environment he likes best playing for Colombia, he had a disappointing Copa America. I hope he comes good again in London and we see the Falcao of old.
Another Colombian who I’ll be watching closely is the winger Juan Cuadrado. I saw him make a difference for Fiorentina and Colombia so many times by going past players. He’s really exciting and quick, but he hasn’t had the same opportunities at Chelsea. I understand that, it’s hard to start a player in a winning team. Maybe he’ll be better with a full preseason behind him because Chelsea will certainly play a lot of games. Falcao’s arrival should also help him feel more settled.
United signed expensive stars last season but it didn’t work out for Falcao and Angel di Maria. Players need time to adapt but those two were not going to get that time at United. So United have signed Morgan Schneiderlin, Matteo Darmian, Memphis Depay, Sergio Romero and Bastian Schweinsteiger — the best of their signings and just what they need. He knows the coach too, that will help, but United’s signings aren’t the big, big stars that are at Barcelona and Real Madrid.
United is a not a team of stars, but the stars are usually the ones who make the difference at the end of the season when you’re winning titles. They just didn’t at United last season, where Robin van Persie also could have done better. So maybe United are looking at things differently with Van Gaal. They beat Barcelona in a friendly in California last weekend, but don’t pretend that United are currently anywhere near as good as Barcelona, the best team in the world at the moment.
United have slipped from a trophy winning team who needed to buy two or three key players each season to one which has been buying five or six. And teams who buy so many players don’t tend to find success immediately.
At least Van Gaal is now in his second season, that makes a big difference for a coach, not that Luis Enrique struggled in his first season at Barcelona last year. Unlike last year, United need to start well. They’re already coming from behind because they’re in transition.
Conversely, a winning start can give a new team a huge lift. If United win the European play-off tie — that’s a key earlier game — then that will be a huge boost, but as it stands I see City as being more consistent than United. Given the money they’ve spent, they need to win an international competition to move up to the next level, a Champions League or Europa League.
City are settled and consistent in the league. I’m glad they stood by my old boss Manuel Pellegrini. He’s one of the best managers that I worked with; he just needs to get City to do better in Europe.
Arsenal, one of the two strongest teams when I played in England, don’t win league titles any more. They have a good team and I like the football they play, the way they also sign and develop younger players.
Petr Cech is an excellent goalkeeper, but if you’re going to win the league then you need to buy some big stars. Arsenal have bought Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez in recent years for big money, but I still think they need something more. The way they are now, I don’t think they can fight for the title. They have spells over two or three months when they remain unbeaten, but then pick up some awful results.
They also suffer more injuries than other teams, but when they’re playing well I love to watch Arsenal.
I can’t see any other teams challenging for the title. Liverpool have little chance of coming close like they did with my friend Luis Suarez in 2014, but could push for the top places if one of the big four fails. That’s not something I expect to happen, but I’ve been in football long enough to see far stranger things. Overall, I can’t wait to watch the English league, even if like the rest of the world, it’s now from afar.
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