Jose Mourinho has pledged to try and make Radamel Falcao into a world-beater again as he all-but confirmed the striker will be joining Chelsea.
Mourinho’s candid comments about the Colombian striker suggest a deal is close for Falcao, who endured a difficult season at Old Trafford before Manchester United opted against signing him.
“If I can help Falcao reach his level again, I will do it,” he said on South American TV.
“It hurts me that people in England think that the real Falcao is the one we saw at Manchester United.”
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Falcao only scored four times in all competitions for United – an anomaly in a career which has seen him hit double figures in every season since 2006-07, when he was still emerging at River Plate.
Indeed, between 2009 and 2013 Falcao scored a remarkable 142 goals in four seasons for Porto and Atletico Madrid as he became one of the world’s most feared strikers.
Falcao even had 11 in 19 games for Monaco in 2013-14 before a serious knee injury wrecked his season, prevented him from taking part at the World Cup and set his career back some distance.
But Mourinho, who has a hole to fill in his squad after seeing Didier Drogba depart, clearly hopes to help Falcao recover the kind of form which saw him nominated for the Ballon d’Or in 2012 and 2013.
OUR VIEW
Jose Mourinho and Falcao share an agent in Jorge Mendes, but signing the striker is more than just an act of charity on the part of the Chelsea boss. He didn’t show it at United, but there is a sensational player in there somewhere as his record in Europe indicates.
If Chelsea can coax some of this talent out then it will give them an extra dimension in attack. Drogba, after all, only scored four league goals himself and with Diego Costa the first-choice striker it’s not as though Chelsea need Falcao to turn up and score 20 goals. With a bit of pressure off, this could be a cute move for both parties.
COULD MANCHESTER UNITED COME TO REGRET LETTING FALCAO GO?
Certainly there is a danger of this happening – but what other choice did they have? Signing Falcao on a permanent basis would have been farcical after the season he had just experienced. United just didn’t work out for him and if he does succeed at Chelsea that’s something they will just have to stomach.
