Where is diego forlan playing now




















Andy Mitten May 22, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Louis Saha are out. Their fellow striker Diego Forlan hopes to start, but has been a difficult year for him so far. I told this to Albert, the kit man, and nothing more was said. I returned to my normal studs. I stayed at United and played pre-season, but the club had signed Saha and Alan Smith that year. I realised that I was going to be fourth-choice striker and that was difficult for me.

Even with injuries to strikers, when the season started at Chelsea I was still on the bench. But back to that summer day in west London. I knew the gaffer would not be happy. Already a subscriber? Log In. Subscribe now to get full access to the new sports page. Must read content, player grades, stuff you can't get anywhere else. View Plans Already a subscriber?

Log in. Few end their careers with a six-year mishmash of the two. But then again, Uruguayan forward Diego Forlan was no run-of-the-mill player.

He followed that up with two years in Japan, then at 37 enjoyed a title-winning season in his home country with Penarol. Finally, on 4 January , more than a year after leaving Mumbai, year-old Forlan made his strangest career move yet: signing for Kitchee Sports Club in the Hong Kong Premier League. Given that Penarol were interested in signing Forlan for a third time in late , it seems doubly strange that the striker — a Copa America winner and World Cup Golden Boot recipient — would instead choose Hong Kong.

The minnows would be competing against big teams from China, Japan and Korea. The question was whether Forlan, now 38 and without a club for 13 months, would be able to offer much against legitimately excellent and younger opponents like Axel Witsel and Alexandre Pato.

Forlan, for his part, was confident. Still, the Kitchee management decided to ease the veteran into the side. His debut, a draw against mid-table Southern District, was a two-minute cameo for the benefit of photographers as much as the team.

From that point on, however, the Hong Kong Premier League was target practice for Forlan and his teammates. Having the opportunity to be in the final and be part of a great evening A lot of people - Fulham fans, Atletico Madrid fans - as these were two teams at that time that were used to being in finals like that, so the atmosphere was great.

And it was a tough game. We started winning, then they levelled and then I think we deserved a little bit more, but I didn't want to go to a penalty shootout, because it doesn't matter how you played during the game, over minutes, because with penalties maybe you have good day and you lose, and then everything you deserved in the game doesn't matter because you lost in the shootout.

So at the end of the game there was a great move from us and Kun crossed the ball and I had the chance to get a touch, flick it [goalbound] and then scored the goal - and [it] was in the th minute, at the end of the game, so it was great.

I had the opportunity to be with him for two-and-a-half years. He is a great guy, very professional, a very nice guy. Everything you see about him is everything he is.

He's very calm and, of course, he can get angry like everybody can, but he has a calm personality. He likes to study a lot and likes to work hard. When we were together on the bench, we were always talking about the defenders [and] what we needed to do if we got on the pitch. He was always analysing everything that was happening during the game; he wasn't only watching the game, he was trying to see where he can get into a position to score a goal, to take advantage once he gets the chance to come on.

He's a very honest guy, a family man and also very calm. Everybody takes a little bit from every coach you had, some of the good ones and also the bad, and things that you don't like as well. I think maybe they talk to each other a lot.

I'm not saying every day, but he has that opportunity [to do so]. You know, [Solskjaer] is a very lovable guy and he also has a good relationship with Sir Alex and with the fans, with the people and also with all ex-players that were at United, so I think he's a good manager for Manchester United.

And he's getting time, which is really important as well. I don't know him as a coach, but maybe he has taken some things from Sir Alex. Sometimes I think it's more about the press.

If you look at the minutes I played with Manchester United and the goals I scored, my average is the is the average that I had during my whole career. I scored really important goals, some really key ones during the season we won the Premier League title, and in that season there were those two goals I scored against Liverpool at Anfield, which was really, really nice, memorable. Even now it's funny because, I'm not saying every game, but once every year, sometimes they start singing the song, and after so many years they still sing that song.

It's really special. I was more mature, more experienced and I also had the chance to play every game, which is a big difference. At United there were so many good players and sometimes I got the chance to play two games, and then I wouldn't play for another two or three games afterwards, so to get the rhythm back isn't that easy. Once I arrived at Villarreal , with the experience of being at a great club like Manchester United , everything was a lot smoother, so I think that's the reason.

It was really nice, it's different. At that moment, Villarreal were more a local team and they were getting a little bit more widely known, also [by having] so many South American players.

And the team was doing well, scoring goals, playing well, away and at home, and then in the Champions League every game was a great atmosphere. I remember the time that we played against Arsenal , in the second leg, the fans, as [happened] against Inter , were all waiting for us when we arrived in the city.

The bus was surrounded by people walking with us to the stadium. It was all yellow, unbelievable, with all the fans with us singing their songs. Yeah, maybe for the fans, not so much for the players now because they are not the ones that played [in the previous semi-final]. It will be two nice games, though.



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