(Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
As the summer transfer window rolls on, strikers have quickly hit the top of the agenda, with every big club looking to improve their team by adding a world-class finisher.
Manchester City have already added Roque Santa Cruz (£18 million) and Carlos Tevez (£25 million) to their squad, with another £25 million believed to be heading Arsenal’s way in exchange for the services of Emmanuel Adebayor.
In Spain, Real Madrid have already spent money on attracting French striker Karim Benzema to their ranks, hoping the former Olympique Lyonnais hitman will be the focal point of the Madrid attack that will also feature £80 million Cristiano Ronaldo.
Real, along with arch-rivals Barcelona, have also been consistently linked with Valencia striker David Villa. The Spanish international is highly coveted by clubs throughout Europe, but the Mestalla-based club are taking a hardline stance in negotiations in order to get the best deal possible for their talisman.
Down the big club’s lists, however, and so far failing to gain serious interest, is a player that—on recent form—is arguably the superior of all the aforementioned names: Diego Forlan.
Some clubs, most notably Barcelona, have flirted with the Uruguayan striker but have yet to get serious with their intentions.
"It is not strange to me that Joan Laporta [Barcelona’s president] says he likes Forlan, as we have known that for a long time,” said Forlan’s agent, Daniel Bolotnicoff, recently. “But the reality is that there has been no offer[s], and we are calm. Barcelona have at no time made contact with us. Laporta has made no movement for Forlan."
Elsewhere, the top clubs in England seem prepossessed with a move for Atletico’s other talented striker, Sergio "Kun" Aguero, although the club’s valuation of the player might prove an insurmountable obstacle.
Yet it is the Uruguayan striker, and not his Argentinean teammate, who currently holds the Pichichi, the award given to the top scorer in La Liga, having beaten both Villa and another highly sought-after striker, Samuel Eto’o, to the crown last season.
In the 2008-09 season, Forlan scored a fantastic 32 goals in 33 league games, capping yet another great season in Spain for the former Manchester United striker.
Forlan arrived at Manchester United with an impressive reputation, but a poor return of just 17 goals in 120 games (although some of those proved vitally important) saw the £6.9 million signing’s stock plummet.
Indeed, the man once dubbed “Diego Forlorn” around Old Trafford has become virtually unrecognisable ever since he was offloaded to Villarreal in 2004 for a reported sum of just £3 million.
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