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Unlike his experience in France seven years before, this trip surpassed all expectations as he ended up signing for one of the giants of world football, Manchester United. With a move to the north-east of England on the cards, Forlán flew back to Europe in the 2002 winter transfer window for another big move audition. By scoring 40 goals in 91 appearances, he attracted interest from some European clubs, including Middlesbrough. He made his first-team debut aged 18 – older than most other future world stars – and he performed reasonably well in his four seasons there. The teenager started afresh across the Río de la Plata border, in Argentina, where he joined up with the Independiente youth team and he refined his craft, eventually earning promotion to the senior team. Despite plenty of hard work, rejection from AS Nancy in 1995 – after flying to Europe and spending several months on trial with the French club – showed that his development still had some way to go. Alejandra, who is involved – with Diego – in running a foundation that warns of the repercussions of dangerous driving, later reflected: “The first thing he told me when I was lying in the hospital bed was that he would become a famous football player and make money to get me the best doctors in the world.”įorlán began his bid to become a professional footballer at a later age than most other world class players and had some catching up to do. The family was struggling to afford the treatment but Diego Maradona, a friend of Pablo Forlán, helped them pay for mounting medical bills by playing in a fundraising game.

However, a change of path came about in 1991 when a horrific car accident paralysed his sister Alejandra and killed her boyfriend. Instead, as a youngster he looked likely to become a professional tennis player. Yet Forlán never worried too much about living up to his name and didn’t even plan on joining the family business. As the son of Pablo Forlán and grandson of Juan Carlos Corazzo, who had both won the Copa América for Uruguay, he had lived in the shadow of success throughout his childhood. One step, two step, three step, four step, five … bang! Forlán slotted the penalty to the left side of the goal, while the keeper dived in the opposite direction, and Forlán enjoyed a moment of pure relief.īy that point in his life Forlán was no stranger to pressure.

So, after placing the ball on the spot, off he went.

Sir Alex Ferguson – a man not known for his patience – was caught chuckling by the camera as Forlán looked to Beckham for some mercy. Anything but a rippling of the net would surely have been the final nail in the coffin for the 23-year-old’s United career.