↑ Infographic: Diego Fran ic photo
On August 7, Uruguayan star Diego Fran announced his retirement.
How would you rate Fran as a player? Some Chinese fans use two idioms to summarize him: the late completion of the big instrument, and the big sound of xisheng.
People have the impression that he only played in one World Cup in 2010 and a few seasons in La Liga. It was the pinnacle of his career, with the World Cup Ballon d'Or and two European Golden Boots proving his prowess, and no one has broken such a record to date.
However, he is a genius who is difficult to tolerate in modern commercial football.
Ferguson saw him as a "parallel cargo." In 2002, he transferred to Premier League giants Manchester United for 11 million euros, officially landing in Europe, and the limelight is in full swing. However, Fran's career at Manchester United is difficult to say successful, and the statistics of 17 goals and 8 assists in 98 games are not beautiful. His final game for United was when Ferguson snatched his shoes in public and lost them. At that time, he was proud of his talents, and in the rain war, the lord asked him to wear long spike shoes, and he felt that the broken nail sneakers were comfortable. As a result, in an empty goal opportunity, he slipped. Ferguson snatched his shoes and never gave him another chance.
Under such humiliation, it can be basically concluded that the big team has closed the door. After leaving Villarreal, Fran found his feelings again in La Liga, winning the European Golden Boot in 2004-2005, he was also favored by Atletico, the Sheets Army spent 21 million euros to sign Fran, and he also lived up to expectations, and won the Golden Boot again in the 2008-2009 season.
His footwork is delicate and he often has world waves that break the world. Like Prince Enzo Francescoli, he plays the most sunny football on the banks of the Rio de la Plata, and in their steps you can see men after the age of 30 singing freely as they walk, and a kind of arrogance that is getting deeper and deeper, deeper and more stable.
If Uruguay is the king of football in ancient times, what is left to Fran is a football heritage that is deeply rooted in the bone marrow. Born into a family of footballers, his grandfather played for the Argentine Liga independencia team in his youth, and his father, Pablo Fran, was a key right-back for the Uruguayan national team and competed in two World Cups in 1966 and 1974. He was born with a thirst for South American players from European clubs: talent + self-discipline.
Success in La Liga has made the giants eager to fool him again. In 2011, Fran left Atletico to join Serie A giants Inter Milan. In Italy, Fran was once again unsatisfied, with only 2 goals and 3 assists in 20 games making it impossible for him to stay at Inter. Inter spent €8 million and scored just two goals. In the end, the two sides peacefully terminated the treaty, which was a decent farewell to him.
Compared to his bumpy and undignified club career, Fran is a god-like presence on the national team. With 36 goals in 112 games, he is the third-highest scorer in Uruguayan history and the 6th most appearances in history. The brightest moment of Fran's national team career was at the 2010 World Cup, where Fran led Uruguay to the top four, creating the best record in Uruguayan football history in 40 years, and Fran also won the World Cup Golden Ball Award.
However, a golden ball winner who cannot be used by a big club is destined to be intolerable in European football.
After bidding farewell to Europe, Fran joined Brazil International, where he also worked for Sakura Osaka in the J League, Penarol in the Uruguayan Premier League, Mumbai City in the Indian Premier League, and Jachi in the Hong Kong Premier League in China, where he played for the last club of his career. Again and again as a World Cup golden ball to give people unlimited expectations, but also to disappoint people again and again.
Fran's situation is also a clear proof that the modern football national team is short-lived and inferior to professional clubs. Although the old coach Tavares is nostalgic and recruited Fran again in the 2014 World Cup, everyone understands that he has gradually given way to a new generation of super goalscorers such as Suarez and Cavani.
In fact, Fran played his last professional game in May 2018 with The Jackie in Hong Kong, China, and was already facing the dilemma of not having the ball to play.
↑On May 13, 2018, the 2018 Hong Kong Premier League was held at Mong Kok Stadium. The Jai Chi team defeated Sunshine Yuen Long 2-0 to win the championship with a total of 50 points unbeaten in the whole season. After the award, the Team held a simple and grand ceremony to bid farewell to Forlan Corazo Diego.
This summer, Fran turned 40 and finally made up his mind to wave goodbye to football.
Red Star News reporter Hu Minjuan
Edited by Yanni Chen