Diego Forlan appears to be coming back to England, with Tottenham leading the race for the Uruguayan striker. Is this the man to help Tottenham regain their place in the Champions League?
I was somewhat surprised this week when Atletico Madrid revealed that Diego Forlan would be allowed to leave the Spanish club this summer. My understanding was that he was a very good player, and while he is getting on a bit at the age of 32, I felt he was a key player in the setup at Atletico. It also seems strange considering that Sergio Aguero has come out publicly and said that he wants to leave the Spanish club this summer; this could potentially leave them without what have been their two main strikers at the start of next season, maybe a major reshuffle is on the cards at Atletico Madrid.
This announcement from Atletico will undoubtedly produce a rush of excitement from English clubs, interest in England has always been high over Diego Forlan, his poor spell at Manchester United seems to be forgotten now after grabbing 128 goals in 240 appearances in Spain for Villarreal and Atletico Madrid, a very impressive strike rate. I feel that the club leading this pack will be Tottenham Hotspur, they’re a club that are still looking for their ‘world class striker’ to help take them to the next level and help them continue to push hard for a Champions League place. If Tottenham do decide to make Forlan a priority this summer, I believe there will be a lot of indecision as to whether Forlan is the striker that Spurs are looking for to make them a serious threat to English footballs top clubs.
At the age of 32 it’s fair to say that Forlan’s best years are probably behind him, after two fantastic stints at Villareal and the Atletico Madrid, it would be hard to see him replicate this at another top club. Maybe this is why Madrid have decided he’s surplus to requirements, maybe they feel he’s given all he can to the club, it would be harsh to judge him on one campaign but he scored only 8 goals in 32 appearances last season in La Liga, a much lower strike rate than the Spanish club are used to seeing. This lack of goals surprised me, especially considering how prolific he was at the 2010 World Cup, despite a helping hand from Suarez, he was more or less the sole reason Uruguay made it to the Semi Finals last summer.
His performance at the last World Cup saw Tottenham show interest in him last summer, the main barrier was the hefty transfer fee, I believe this could be the key in whether he will actually leave Atletico Madrid this year. Now that Madrid have said he’s for sale, you’d expect it to be at a cut price, not in the 20-30 millions that were being quoted last summer, something in the region of 10 million pounds would be reasonable, a price that many clubs can afford nowadays. But regardless of the price I still think it would be a risky signing, especially for a club like Tottenham.
If Tottenham wish to sign a world class striker to take them to the next level, I don’t think Forlan or even Didier Drogba for that matter would be the right choices. Don’t get me wrong, they’d both be good signings for the club, but both players probably only have one or two years left in them. To show their intent to become one of the best clubs in Europe, consistently competing at the highest level, Spurs need to sign a striker who is in his prime, a striker that would be able to give Tottenham at least 4 or 5 years of his career, a player who has the ambition to make himself a legend at Spurs, not a player coming in just because their club doesn’t really want them anymore. For me there’s only one question the Tottenham board and Tottenham fans need to ask themselves. If he’s not good enough for Atletico Madrid, is he good enough for Tottenham Hotspur?
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