Fergie: Forlan could have been a Man United hero - and we sold him too cheaply

There can be few more surprising candidates for the Golden Ball award than Diego Forlan.

But the Manchester United reject is definitely one of the top contenders to be player of the tournament at this World Cup.

Forlan is up there with the other contenders David Villa, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Muller and Wesley Sneijder.

He was rejected by Sir Alex Ferguson, but Forlan has made an outstanding case for himself in this tournament because, unlike the rest, he has carried his team.

Not since Diego Maradona for Argentina in 1986 has one player got his team to the latter stages almost on his own. The rest all play in stronger teams.

Forlan has been a one-man team and, when the chips were down for Uruguay last night, he produced another piece of magic.

It is the third time that Forlan has “Jabulanied” a keeper in this World Cup, hitting a sensational shot from 30 yards to equalise for Uruguay in the 40th minute.

It will be remembered as one of the goals of the tournament and by scoring it he became the first player to hit three from outside the box in a single Finals since Lothar Matthaus in 1990.

Forlan, more than any other player, seems to have perfected the art of making the controversial World Cup ball swerve and curl as his stunning shot deceived Maarten Stekelenburg and left the Dutch keeper clutching at thin air.

Unfortunately for Forlan, Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s strike matched his own and second-half goals from Sneijder and Arjen Robben ended his World Cup dream.

After he was substituted in the 83th minute he left with the memory of similar goals from long-range free-kicks against South Africa and Ghana. Besides those spectacular strikes, Forlan has been Uruguay’s best player in all of their games in the tournament.

The difference last night was that he was without his suspended strike partner Luis Suarez and so it fell to him to play further forward than the deeper-lying role he has adopted to such great effect since the opening game.

But that shows the strength of Forlan. He’s not just the goalscorer who, last season, took great delight in knocking out Liverpool and then scoring both goals as Atletico Madrid beat Fulham in the Europa League final.

There is more to Forlan’s game as his range of passing, vision and eye for the spectacular have made him a star in Europe since he left Old Trafford in 2004.

It took him eight months to score his first goal for United and he only managed nine more in an unhappy spell which saw him become one of the most ridiculed players in the Premier League.

But this World Cup has been a different story.

Forlan has become a talisman for Uruguay’s unexpected success at this World Cup. Even Uruguay boss Oscar Tabarez has admitted he did not expect his country’s best World Cup performance for 40 years.

Forlan’s displays have also brought rich praise from his former Manchester United boss Fergie who, despite failing to get the best out of the Uruguayan forward, says he never doubted his ability.

Ferguson said: “I sent Diego a text the other day. He has been just fantastic and we’re all proud of him.

“There was never a problem with him at Old Trafford. It was just the combination of him and Ruud van Nistelrooy didn’t work.

“The boy had other issues.. his sister’s health in Spain. He always wanted to get to Spain at some point. The only criticism of ourselves was that we sold him too cheaply.

“He could have been a hero. He was a great lad and a magnificent professional.”