Winger - Midfielder or Foward???

Wikipedia says:
"A Winger or Wide Midfielder is a midfielder who is stationed in a wide position effectively hugging the touchline."
"A wide forward is a forward that plays along the wing. This position is similar to a winger."
"Wide fowards emphasizes more on beating defenders than crossing the ball."

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My opinion.
So lets see:
In 4-4-2 formation, I will use Manchester united.
Beckham played on right side, he was know as RM - Right Midfielder, Giggs played on left side, on same position, but he was know as LWM - left wing midfielder, or LW - Left Wing. Both provided crosses, but Giggs was using more pace and dribling and Beckham was more orientaded on playmaking and long crosses to Cole and York. Later, Cristiano Ronaldo was playing on right side, and he was known as RWM - Right Wing Midfielder, or RW - Right Wing. They were midfielders.

So, in 4-4-2 formation "winger" is midfielder.

In Barca's old 4-4-3 Figo was playing on right side and he was known as RWM - Right Wing Midfielder or RW - Right Winger. Figo was midfielder. Later Ronaldinho played on left side, he was winger, but was he LWM - Left Wing Midfielder or LF - Left Foward, or even LAM - Left Attacking Midfielder. Later we had Henry on left side, Henry is striker, foward, in Barca's formation he was LF - Left Foward, now it is same thing with Villa, he is LF - Left Foward, Pedro is RF - Right Foward, but stil they are winger. When Iniesta is playing on wing for sure he is not foward, he is Wing Midfielder.

So, in 4-3-3 formation "winger" can be both, foward or midfielder.

Spain's WC 2010 wining formation 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1, Iniesta was on right side, Villa on left side, both wingers, but Villa was LF - Left foward, and Iniesta was RWM - Right Wing Midfielder. Real Madrid is using same formation. Di Maria, midfielder? Cristiano, foward?

So, in 4-2-3-1 formation "winger" can be both, foward or midfielder.
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What do you think? Is "winger" foward or midfielder? Or it can be both?

it is a forward

i was wondering this too. seemed to be some ambiguity about this

Depends on the player. Marchisio was used as a LW at times but I do not believe he fit the typical definition of a winger, so I saw him more as a midfielder.

But usually, they are forwards in my opinion.

I was going to create a thread about this, I still consider pure wongers to be midfielders but any striker playing there is a forward.

forward

There's two different kinds of wingers, so it depends on which kind of winger you're talking about. Camoranesi, Ronaldinho, and Beckham are perfect examples of a 442 winger. One that is more about crossing the ball into the box, and more about giving assists than scoring and tracks back a lot. C. Ronaldo, Messi, and Sanchez are perfect examples of a 433 winger. One that plays further forward, waiting for the ball to come to him rather than tracking back as much, and more about scoring than crossing. As you can see by my examples, nowadays the 442 wingers are not produced quite as much as they used to be.

Depends how high up on the pitch he is, really. Say if you're playing 4-4-2, with old fashioned wingers... they are stationed deep in the midfield and usually do a lot of defensive work and are more balanced in their attacks.

Now, say you play 4-3-3, you can have wingers in an advanced role, and can be considered forwards. Nowadays, we have mostly inside forwards, but wingers are still found.