With the World Cup wrapped up and the winner decided, FIFA have handed out their awards with former United player Diego Forlan winning the Golden Ball award for the best player at the competition.
Forlan really shone over this past month scoring some cracking goals and helping to carry Uruguay to 4th place. There was even talk of a return to Old Trafford with Rene Meulensteen claiming the striker would be welcomed back and all this served to giving pundits an endless supply of ammo.
As his performances impressed, commentators continually spoke of Forlan being a flop in England and being a star now and the same question arose again and again, why he couldn’t produce such performances for United?
It’s not just pundits I got this from, friends as well as the average guy have said the same thing but it’s not as simple as that.
I don’t have to tell you in the 6 years since he left Old Trafford, maturity as well as experience have helped make him the player he is. The season after he left United he would score 25 goals in 38 games for Villareal, an indication that the quality was always there and he was simply struggling in England rather than him simply being a poor player.
Rene Meulensteen stated Diego was in the wrong place at the wrong time when it came to his United career but I would disagree. I feel he was at the right place at the wrong time. Going through what happened to him at United gave him a point to prove and a man with Diego’s character was always going to prove his point. He has shown how strong a person he is since leaving United, over coming such a damning verdict of his ability to shine in Spain for both Atletico Madrid and Villareal and has done the same at this World Cup, leading his team from the front and carrying the weight of expectation for his country.
Diego is a quality player and fully deserves any accolades he picks up. All United fans are happy to see him succeed but for anyone, United fans included, that will say that Diego should have been given more time or that we made a mistake in letting him go, I disagree.
With Forlan, it was a case of letting him go in order for him to become the player he is today and nobody can begrudge him that as he has finally put the ‘flop’ tag to bed.
