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Date of birth: 19.05.1979 (age 29)
Country: Uruguay
Position: Forward
From Wikipedia:
Early career
He was a promising tennis player in his youth, but when his sister, Alejandra Forlán, was involved in a car accident which killed her boyfriend and left her in intensive care for five months, he decided however to follow the family tradition and concentrate on football. He played for several South American clubs including Argentine side Independiente before transferring in January 2002 to play for Manchester United in England for a fee of £6.9 million.
Manchester United
He made his debut for the team on January 29 against Bolton Wanderers but did not score his first goal for the club, a penalty, until September 18 in a Champions League game against Maccabi Haifa. It took him eight months and 27 games to score that first goal, to the extent that he was dubbed "Diego Forlorn" and "Diego Birtles" (after Garry Birtles, a former United striker who had flopped) for his goal drought by some quarters of the English press.
Forlán enjoyed the occasional purple patch of scoring, but inconsistency blighted his time at United. He was, however, noted for scoring important goals, such as the late equaliser at home to Aston Villa and the remarkable volleyed winner in the last minutes of the home game against Chelsea during United's Premiership-winning season of 2002-3. During this period, Forlán became known for characteristically removing his shirt and baring his torso in celebration of his goals. The first such example of this routine resulted in quite an amusing incident; Forlán whipped his shirt off in excitement after scoring a last minute winner against Southampton in December 2002 but struggled to get it back on in time for the re-start of play, resulting in the spectacle of Forlán briefly running around the Old Trafford pitch bare-chested, with his shirt still in his hand, then recovering the ball for his team. The referee soon stopped play and ordered Forlán off the pitch to get dressed.
He became a fan favourite in 2002 when he scored 2 goals against Liverpool in a 2-1 victory at Anfield.
Forlán's record of 17 goals from 95 appearances for the club does not compare favourably against his former team mate Ruud van Nistelrooy's 150 goals in 210 games, and it was widely thought that he would not start the 2004-05 season in the Red Devils' team colours. Wayne Rooney's arrival at the English club eventually signalled the end of Forlán's playing days at United.
Villarreal
Forlán was strongly linked to a move to Spanish club Levante, but signed on 21 August 2004 with another Spanish club, Villarreal, where he became the Spanish 2004-05 season "pichichi" (top scorer) with 25 goals, helping Villareal to their first ever UEFA Champions League spot. He also jointly won the European Golden Boot award with Thierry Henry.
Atlético Madrid
Forlán was linked to transfer with Juan Román Riquelme to Atlético Madrid in exchange for Luis Perea and money in June 2007. On June 30, 2007, Atlético Madrid confirmed that they had agreed a fee of around € 21 million.[1]. He returned to England in February 2008 to take part in Atletico's UEFA Cup clash against Bolton Wanderers (the club whom he made his Manchester United debut against), but the side lost out 1-0 on aggregate.
Year Team Apps (Gls)
1998–2002 Independiente 80 (37)
2002–2004 Manchester United 63 (10)
2004–2007 Villarreal 106 (54)
2007– Atlético Madrid 45 (26)
2002– Uruguay 51 (19)
SAF signed Forlan because he saw real potential in him, unfortunately it didn't work out for him at Man Utd. At that time we had the worlds best striker upfront, Ruud van Nistelrooy, and we were mainly playing 4-5-1/4-3-3. But i wouldn't consider him a flop like some people.
Anyway, since then, imo, Forlan has been a real hit in Europe. He has a really good goals to game ratio and gets a lot of assists too. So i was just wondering how does everyone else on here rate Forlan compared to the other top strikers in Europe?
I'm sure Sergio Agüero would say Forlan > Torres.
