‘Time I went home’ as Uruguay beckons after Japan stint

I will leave my current club Cerezo Osaka when my contract is up next month.

I have had a great time in Japan and I am enjoying my football here. It is a good club with great fans. I am currently the top scorer in the league and want to score as many as I can this season.

Then I hope to go back to Penarol in Uruguay, the club my father played at and which I supported as a child and whose youth team I left 24 years ago. I have been speaking to the coach and president and, while I have not signed a contract yet, everything is in place and I should play there next season. And in the Copa Libertadores, too.

After 18 years away, it is time I went home and played some professional football in Uruguay for the first time in my life.

‘Time I went home’ as Uruguay beckons after Japan stint

Intending to wrap up his time in Japan with Cerezo Osaka at the end of this season, Diego Forlan says the next step in his career will be a homecoming.