• Premier League

Forlan rules out Premier League return

ESPNsoccernet staff
July 6, 2010
Diego Forlan has been one of the stars of this summer's World Cup © Getty Images
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Tottenham target Diego Forlan has no intention of quitting Atletico Madrid to return to the Premier League - with any club.

The Uruguay striker, who scored 17 goals in two seasons at Manchester United, has fired his country to the semi-finals of the World Cup and is being tracked by a number of English clubs.

Forlan was considered an expensive failure at Old Trafford but moved to Spain in a cut-price £2 million deal with Villarreal and promptly won the Pichichi, the trophy awarded to La Liga's top scorer, in his first season in 2004.

A £15 million move to Atletico Madrid followed as he was drafted in as a replacement for Liverpool-bound Fernando Torres in 2007 and Forlan again won the Pichichi, this time in his second season at the club.

The 31-year-old's record speaks for itself and he feels he has shown his true quality.

"I feel I have nothing to prove at all, my scoring rate in La Liga speaks for itself. My average is well over a goal in two games, and in the toughest league in the world, it speaks for itself," forlan told the Daily Express.

"Tottenham are a club who are going in the right direction, but I have no interest in joining the Premier League with any club. For a start, Spain is much hotter and also it is my home now.

"We have a great team at Atletico and next season we will be aiming for a top-four finish. We have some very exciting young players and I am excited for the season. I will never play in England again, but I still actually look back with fond memories at some moments."

On his troubled time at United, Forlan said: "I was very young at Manchester United, and I feel that I was just starting to find my feet when I was sold and Rooney was brought in. If we had been paired together I think we could have formed the most devastating strike partnership in Europe, but it wasn't to be."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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