After an underwhelming season with Manchester United left the once-feared Monaco hitman labelled a ‘flop’, a chance at Premier League redemption has been presented with the new champions.
Radamel Falcao dropped the biggest hint the deal with the Blues is complete following Colombia’s 1-0 victory over Brazil in the Copa America, while several are reporting that a deal has been reached on principle terms.
“It can be [true]. You will know soon,” said Falcao.
“I would like to continue in the Premier League. My future will be decided in the coming weeks.”
The Colombian’s signature would complete a long-drawn out saga with Chelsea, having been linked to the club since at least early 2013, where Falcao elected to join Monaco instead on a five-year contract for an undisclosed fee. He began impressively in Ligue 1, scoring at a rate of around one goal every 180 minutes, but a knee injury in late Juanuary of 2014 put an end to both his domestic season and his chances of competing in the World Cup later that year.
However, in football terms that was a long time ago, and albeit from the striker’s position or the numerous other deadly attacking targets, the Blues have since capably filled the goalscoring role. This poses the questions of just where Falcao will fit into the line-up, and what place he will take in the pecking order with Chelsea’s other forwards?
Much enthusiasm surrounded the 29-year-old’s initial arrival to Old Trafford, receiving a thunderous reaction when making his debut in the late stages of a 4-0 win against QPR. Some promising signs followed in the early stages of the season, but injury kept him from playing any consistent first team football. Much like teammate Angel Di Maria, the glimmer of a big-name transfer quickly started to fade as the output did not match his £265,000-a-week wage.
As Louis van Gaal was increasingly able to rely on names such as Juan Mata, Marouane Fellaini and Ander Herrera to bring the Red Devils back to the top four, Falcao was pushed to the sidelines, only playing three full matches after the New Year and ending with a miserable tally of four goals to his name. A bizzare end to this chapter at Old Trafford saw him used in the Under-21 team in a 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur in early March.
Adding to Falcao’s woes coming off the Premier League season has been his far-from-notable form for Colombia in the Copa America. Los Cafeteros were only just able to make their way past the group stage with a 0-0 draw with Peru, the 1-0 win over Brazil providing both their only win and goal so far, the other result so far being a 1-0 loss to Venezuela.
Featuring in all three of Colombia’s Group C matches, Falcao has hardly used the international stage as an opportunity to rebound from his barren run in Manchester. He has registered just one shot on target in all of the games combined, substituted early in the second half of the latest against Peru. His form has been enough to incense fans of his potential new side, taking to Twitter to voice some strong concerns.
Falcao is so far past it. Don't think he has either scored or assisted in Copa America. But he is gonna play for Champions of England.
— Ronish Karki (@CFC_BULLETIN) June 22, 2015
I'd have Emile Heskey over Falcao. Bye
— #FreeFabregas (@EliteConte) June 21, 2015
Hopefully Jose is watching Falcao. We can't be seriously considering signing him. Should give Bamford a chance instead. #CFC
— Mohamed Karem (@MohamedKarem88) June 21, 2015
Before the arrival of Diego Costa last season, Chelsea’s title hopes in the previous years were haunted by underwhelming strikers. The most infamous of these will always be Fernando Torres, yet the one-year deal for Samuel Eto’o in 2013 hardly paid dividends either and going slightly further back to 2006, the then-record £30.8 million deal for Andrey Shevchenko could probably best be described as a disaster. The Ukranian scored only nine goals in nearly 50 outings.
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But the reigning English champions seem to have not learned from these past experiences. In not too dissimilar fashion to the way Didier Drogba was brought back for the 2014-15 campaign, Mourinho is looking at the easiest and already established options available on the market, rather than, say, giving a chance to a youngster from the academy.
It seems more than likely Falcao is being brought in to replace the departing Ivorian club icon, and unless Costa’s hamstring plagues him for another season and Loic Remy departs from London, the Colombian’s time in the starting XI will be as limited, if not more so than at Manchester United.
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Chelsea should go for Antoine Griezman then replace Drogba with Betrand Traore. Falcao is history.