I proved critics wrong by beating Ronaldo and Lionel Messi to top award after ‘flopping’ alongside Cristiano Ronaldo

Manchester United may be the pinnacle of a player’s career – but Diego Forlan showed the Red Devils were just a stepping stone to achieving greatness.

The 45-year-old spent two-and-a-half-years at Old Trafford from January 2002 to August 2004 – winning the Premier League and FA Cup.

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Remembered for his quickfire double away at Liverpool and his many celebrations where he stripped off his shirt, Forlan is thought of fondly by the United faithful.

Though the Uruguayan, who recently made his professional tennis debut, wasn’t without his critics during his Old Trafford career.

Brought in to provide competition for Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, it took Forlan nine months to score his first Premier League goal.

While fans often heralded his attitude and fighting spirit, Forlan was often singled out for his lack of goals, with the player scoring 17 times from his 98 matches in all competitions.

Speaking on talkSPORT Drive about his haters, he said: “When I arrived at United, they were in that moment like Real Madrid with all the big players.

“It was difficult to get in the first team, and I remember at the beginning I was on the bench getting ten, five minutes each game, which makes it difficult for you to adapt.

“I was coming from a different league – the Argentinian league which is lower than the Premier League – and when you don’t get the rhythm of consecutive games to play, being on the bench and getting those ten minutes each game, it’s more difficult.

“I remember that everybody was joking and the England press is really strong, and for six months I didn’t score a goal.

“But if you see all the minutes that I play, and all the goals that I scored, my average was the one that I had my whole career, which was one goal every three games.”

Forlan, who played alongside Cristiano Ronaldo in the 2003/04 season, then revealed Van Nistelrooy’s request to Sir Alex Ferguson saw him drop to the bench, resulting in his desire to seal a move away.

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He remarked: “I remember I was playing a good rhythm, I scored against Chelsea and Liverpool.

“I think in 11 games I scored around seven or eight goals, I was playing alongside Ruud in that moment and the gaffer came to me and said, ‘OK, Ruud wants to play on his own,’ and it was Ruud, he was a great player, a great goalscorer, so I went to the bench.

“I had to wait my moment and then I saw there was a moment where I wanted to play more.

“I knew it was a great club with great players, I still got a contract [offer] of two-and-a-half-years more, but I wanted to prove myself.”

While Forlan never managed to score more than six top-flight goals in a season in England, he went on to become one of the deadliest finishers across the globe following his switch to Villarreal two decades ago.

In his first season in Spain, he finished as the LaLiga top scorer with 25 goals – pipping Barcelona star Samuel Eto’o and Real Madrid hero Ronaldo to the Pichichi Trophy.

His goalscoring exploits saw him share the European Golden Shoe with Arsenal legend Thierry Henry.

Four years later and Forlan would win the individual honour outright, having banged in 32 league goals in Atletico Madrid’s colours.

Henry, then at Barca, could only muster 19 LaLiga strikes during the 2008/09 campaign, while Forlan also left Eto’o [30], David Villa [28] and Lionel Messi [23] in his dust.

Forlan was just as lethal on the international scene, with his heroics at the 2010 World Cup taking Uruguay to the last four, where he won the tournament’s Golden Ball and top goalscorer award with five goals.

And just one year later, he sealed his place in Uruguay history by helping his side win their first Copa America in 16 years – while also playing his part in knocking out Messi’s Argentina in the quarter-finals.

Forlan was proof that there is not only life after United for footballers, but that they can go on to become huge successes.