It feels just like yesterday that Radamel Falcao, “El Tigre” was the most feared striker on the planet. Three years ago he absolutely devastated Roberto Di Matteo’s Chelsea side in the UEFA Super Cup, for example. Twelve months later, AS Monaco paid something like €60m for his services and that’s before also paying him, personally almost €20m per season. Those massive wages were a big part of the reason for his loan to Manchester United last summer. Six months later, he was playing with their U21 team, and it wasn’t due to injury. Talk about a fall from grace.
Needless to say, United have chosen not to exercise their option to sign the 29-year-old on a permanent basis. Van Gaal may be a crazy man, and Ed Woodward may come off more incompetent than most, but they’re not that crazy and not that incompetent, respectively. Meanwhile, Monaco probably still can’t really afford the player’s contract. And so, Falcao (and his agent) are hitting the campaign trail.
Radamel Falcao is so desperate to try to secure a surprise summer move to Chelsea that he is willing to accept a big pay cut.
Manchester United have decided not to take up their option to sign Falcao permanently, but the Colombian wants to stay in the Premier League and ideally move to London.
-source: Telegraph
This rumor seems to be based entirely on the fact that Mourinho and Falcao share an agent. Granted, there are far worse things on which to base a rumor (see also: Griezmann, Antoine) and Didier Drogba’s departure will certainly leave at least one spot open in the squad. While Mourinho has signed one veteran striker in each of the last two transfer windows (Samuel Eto’o in 2013, Didier Drogba in 2014), Falcao seems like a fairly poor choice to continue that trend, even at a deep discount. He’s basically Fernando Torres at this point: once-dominant, then injured, now utterly bereft of confidence. Overpriced, underperforming, no thanks. Let’s not make that mistake again.
SB Nation
