Dubai: Al Wasl Club Tuesday said they were waiting to hear from Atletico Madrid on their latest bid for Uruguayan striker Diego Forlan, the Golden Ball winner in the last Fifa World Cup.
Gulf News broke on Monday the news that Diego Maradona was trying to lure former Golden Ball winner, the 31-year-old Forlan, as his first foreign signing at the Zabeel club.
However, unattributed press reports said there had been no contact established despite Al Wasl CEO Ashraf Ahmad Mohammad's confirmation.
The doubts ended with a club statement yesterday.
"After rejecting Al Wasl's initial bid for Diego Forlan, Atletico Madrid are now considering a new offer.
"A new and improved bid has been submitted for Diego Forlan — the new offer of taking Forlan on a year-long loan starting next season will be the final attempt by Al Wasl.
Personal terms
"Forlan was expected to visit Dubai this week to negotiate personal terms with Al Wasl, but the club has confirmed that Forlan's visit has been postponed while they wait on Atletico's reply."
Despite being contracted to Atletico for another two years, Al Wasl said: "Forlan has expressed his desire to join Al Wasl and is impressed by the club's vision and forward thinking strategy especially after appointing Maradona as coach — the Uruguayan international has recently declared his intentions of exiting the Spanish club."
With Forlan's agent rejecting talk that a deal with Besiktas has already been done, and Tottenham Hotspur said to be still tempted by a cut price, it's now official that Al Wasl are also in the chase for the former Manchester United, Villarreal and Independiente star.
