Esteemed company.
Roy Keane had a big influence on Diego Forlan during the Uruguayan’s time at Manchester United. The pair’s careers overlapped for three years at Old Trafford during a time where the Corkman was the spiritual leader of the team’s dressing room.
A strong personality, Keane famously demanded a lot from his teammates and any player who he reckoned wasn’t pulling their weight or was taking liberties would have been given a wake up call fairly lively.
It’s no wonder then, that Keane is so well respected in football and especially by his former teammates, many of whom speak extremely highly of his ambition and his professionalism.
Forlan was no stranger to this. Keane famously ripped the ball off the centre forward in 2004 when United were awarded a penalty and he was attempting to break his scoring duck. Keane wanted the designated penalty-taker to dispatch the spot-kick and Forlan was given a short shrift.
He may not have liked it at the time, but it was clear that winning and the best interests of the club were at the Corkman’s heart, and Forlan surely respected this.
In a recent column with a Uruguayan paper, Keane’s influence on Forlan was clear.
‘I’ve seen the argument that London is more attractive to players than Manchester. If a player wants to go shopping in Harrods then that might be the case, but the players I know want to play football,” he wrote, straight out of the Roy Keane handbook.
And while his United career only lasted for three years, from 2002 to 2004 and while his time at the club wasn’t overwhelmingly successful, he always had a special place in the hearts of United fans.
He will always be remembered for his brace of goals at Anfield that helped condemn bitter rivals Liverpool to defeat in the 2002 season in their own back garden.
Indeed, Keane and Forlan met up to watch some World Cup action over in Russia on Saturday afternoon. Ruud Gullit was there too.
Viendo el partido de Argentina en el bar del Hotel/ Watching Argentina’s March at the Hotel Bar with Roy Keane y @GullitR pic.twitter.com/NK6w0pxN0f
— Diego Forlán (@DiegoForlan7) June 16, 2018
Old pals reunited, the mutual respect between the pair clear as day.
Look Who I met in the elevator, Roy Keane! @ManUtd_Es pic.twitter.com/psdGs3fkNZ
— Diego Forlán (@DiegoForlan7) June 16, 2018
