From Utd to Hong Kong, Forlan’s still going strong
hong kong — Former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan said he hasn’t lost his passion for football and has no plans to retire as he embraces his latest challenge: firing Hong Kong’s Kitchee in the Asian Champions League.
Uruguay’s Forlan, now 38, has shone on the sport’s biggest stages with Manchester United and Atletico Madrid, and also when he won the golden ball at the 2010 World Cup.
After ending a one-year stay with Inter Milan in 2012, Forlan has played for five clubs, including Mumbai City in the Indian Super League last year.
But Forlan, who has now played for clubs in eight different countries, said he is enjoying a new lease of life with Kitchee, where he is regularly finding the net.
“It’s great. Great relationship, good guys from different countries, so I’m really enjoying my time here,” Forlan said in an interview with AFP.
“I really enjoy (it), it’s beautiful. It’s been my work for almost 20 years and it’s been great. I don’t feel (it is) like working, it’s something that I enjoy playing, something that I’m privileged (to do), so that’s why I’ll keep going and keep playing.”
Forlan isn’t the only footballer to enjoy a late-career flourish in Asia, whose increasingly wealthy leagues have attracted a steady stream of veteran players.
This week he will return to Japan, where he had an 18-month spell with Cerezo Osaka in 201415, as Kitchee face Kashiwa Reysol looking for their first win in the AFC Champions league.
After losing 3-0 at Tianjin Quanjian in China and 6-0 at home to South Korea’s Jeonbuk Motors in Group E, Forlan said the debutants “need to improve a lot”. —