Diego Forlan believes Manchester United’s objectives are different to when he was at Old Trafford.
Forlan spent two years at Manchester United between 2002 and 2004, joining in a £9.9m deal from Independiente before leaving for Villarreal.
His time in Manchester was not always a happy one as he managed just 17 goals and nine assists in 97 games in total.
The Uruguayan struggled to establish himself in England, particularly compared to his time in Spain, where he managed 58 goals for Villarreal and then 96 for Atletico Madrid in 125 and 198 games, respectively.
While his short spell in England was not a success personally, Manchester United were still successful, winning the Premier League title, FA Cup and Community Shield in 2002/03, 2003/04 and 2003.
Successes like that are something of a distant memory for United these days, with their last title coming in 2012/13 and the FA Cup in 2015/16.
It’s been a long drought for a club synonymous with success, and Forlan believes he knows the cause of it.
“I’m speaking from the outside, but with the change of ownership, the objectives seem to be different,” he told El Pais.
“In that United team, there were a lot of home-grown players. That, with the good players there were, increased the quality and gave an identity that made a difference.
“Today, there are not so many home-grown players, also because there is a lot of competition in the scouting of young players.
“The surrounding clubs have grown; in my time, there was only Arsenal. Now there are City, Chelsea, Tottenham, and Liverpool have re-emerged.”
