Opinion‘The world has become much smaller – players play everywhere now’: Diego Forlan on life as a globe-trotting maestro
The 38-year-old scored a brace for his new club Kitchee on Sunday proving that he’s far from finished as a professional, and he wants to enjoy it while he can
According to the English Professional Footballers Association, the average length of a footballer’s career is eight years. Forlan has gone well beyond that.
“My motivation for coming to Hong Kong was that I wanted to play for 20 years as a professional footballer,” explains Forlan. “I had a good offer and had no hesitation in accepting it.”
There is still a smattering of 38-year-old outfield players in Europe’s leading leagues: Gareth McAuley at West Brom, Sergio Mora at Getafe, Aaron Hughes at Hearts and the Chievo forward Sergio Pellissier.
Roma legend Francesco Totti retired at 40 last year, while striker Claudio Pizarro is still playing Bundesliga football at 39. Xavi Hernandez, six months younger than Forlan, turns out for El Sadd in Qatar.
Forlan's freekick pic.twitter.com/sDhbiFjQp8— BobbyBrown (@RabonaMike) January 28, 2018
What makes Forlan unique is that he’s now in his ninth country – and he’s played at the top-level in all of them. Starting out in Argentina with Independiente, he moved to England with Manchester United, then to Spain with Villarreal and Atletico Madrid. A spell in Italy with European champions Inter Milan followed before time at another Inter, the Brazilian giants from Porto Alegre. Time in Japan with Cerezo Osaka, Uruguay with his beloved Penarol and India with Mumbai City meant he carried on playing when many of his teammates were long retired.