Rumor: Atletico Madrid steering Diego Forlan to Indian Super League

A report from the Hindustan Times sheds a little more light on the allegedly-done deal to bring Uruguay legend Diego Forlan to Indian Super League's Atletico Kolkata.

Citing an ATK official who admitted no contract has been signed, Dhiman Sarkar reports the Forlan-to-ISLdeal is said to be the brainchild of Atletico Madrid, part of the Kolkata club's ownership group. The two Atleticos are quite tight: new Kolkata coach, Jose Molina, played in Madrid from 1995 to 2000, winning a league and cup double in his first season. Forlan is a former Atletico Madrid player, of course, who helped the club to a Europa League title in 2010.

Per the Hindustan Times' source, the plan is to have Forlan boost the Kolkata club's marketing profile, with a preseason training trip to Atletico Madrid planned for September.

For his participation in some preseason marketing and ISL itself, the report suggests Forlan will be offered somewhere in the region of $820,000 (if Once A Metro's currency conversions are right)- which is not bad at all when you considered ISL is a three-month league (it runs from October to December).

And that also means that if Forlan is on his way to ISL, he'll be looking for work again in time for the January transfer window - or the MLS preseason, as it is known in the USA.

We have been told Forlan has an offer from an American club - and he has been connected to the New York Red Bulls - and such an offer would not necessarily be incompatible with an ISL stint, as the rumor mill will surely remind us in due course.