Sir Alex Ferguson was in no doubt when he mentioned the one Manchester United player he “never got the best of”, and it will haunt him to this day many years later.
While it may seem that way from today, the former Manchester United manager didn’t always get things right during his trophy-filled tenure at the club.
Sir Alex Ferguson was in no doubt when he named the one Manchester United player he failed to get the best out of during his time at the club. Ferguson, now 83 years old, is the most successful manager in Premier League history, having secured 13 top titles for Manchester United.
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The Scot signed players such as Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlo Tevez, who went on to have successful careers at Manchester United, but it was another striker who made Ferguson admit that selling him was a “mistake”.
In the book “Bring on United”, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer told a story about a conversation he had with Ferguson about the Uruguayan striker Diego Forlan.
Solskjaer said: “He [Forlan] was a very nice guy and when the boys came in from overseas, we would try to talk to them because I knew what it was like to come in as an outsider.
“He could shoot with both feet, but unfortunately it didn’t work for him at United. We knew what a good player he was, and he would go on to become the best player in the 2010 World Cup to prove it.
“I remember the talk I had with the gaffer [Sir Alex Ferguson] about players after they left, and he said: ‘Diego Forlan was a great player. It was my fault that I never managed to get the best out of him.'”
Forlan (45) played for United between 2002-2004 and recorded 17 goals and eight assists in 98 appearances for the Red Devils.
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Forlan, who went on to become a professional tennis player, discussed his time at United during an interview with The Telegraph back in 2014.
“I feel lucky because I was at one of the best clubs in the world,” Forlan said. “I won three titles: the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Community Shield. I remember with particular fondness a last-minute goal against Chelsea, another against Southampton, a volley I scored against Glasgow Rangers in the Champions League and of course the two goals I scored against Liverpool at Anfield.”
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