Unlike many of the international players traded in the summer transfer window, Radamel Falcao was denied the opportunity to boost his value with a strong showing at the 2014 World Cup. A damaged anterior cruciate ligament kept the the 28-year-old out of his team’s run to the quarter-finals.
Despite playing little competitive football this year, Manchester United are prepared to meet Falcao’s rumoured wage expectations of £200,000 a week. That sort of salary may also be behind Monaco’s willingness to part with the player as the French club struggle to meet Financial Fair Play regulations.
But it is not so long ago that Falcao was considered one of the hottest properties in Colombian and indeed European football. After his knee injury in January, Juan Manuel Santos, the president of Colombia, spoke personally with the surgeon treating the striker. “He told me that if I can get Falcao fit for the World Cup, then I could win him the elections,” José Carlos Noronha said.
With Falcao out, James Rodriguez became the hottest property in Colombian football. Falcao returned to fitness for the start of this season, however, and made three appearances for Monaco in Ligue 1. He was dropped for Saturday’s draw with Lille only as rumours of a transfer to the Premier League began to gather pace.
Certainly his desire to move to the Premier League comes as no surprise. Earlier this year he spoke about the possibility of moving, saying: “I hope to be playing for many more years in Europe and I want to play in the English league at some time. I watch the Premier League and I see how competitive it is and how teams are very direct in terms of looking for the opposition’s goal. The football is very physical, it’s a very interesting league.”
Advertisement
The son of Radamel Garcia, who played as a defender in Colombia in the 1980s, United will be Falcao’s sixth club. He made his debut in Colombia for Lanceros Boyaca at the age of 13. From there, he moved to River Plate, also in his native country, where he stayed for four years until catching the eye of Porto in 2009.
It was at Porto that Falcao turned into a prolific striker, with 41 goals in 51 appearances. Predatory, two-footed and strong in the air despite being only 5ft 10in, his first season in Portugal yielded 34 goals. The year after he broke Jurgen Klinsmann’s record for the most goals in a Europa League season, finding the net 17 times in 14 games as Porto won the competition.
A €40 million transfer to Atletico Madrid followed in 2011 and Falcao went on to make 68 appearances for the Spanish team, scoring 52 goals and securing a second successive Europa League title as well as the Copa del Rey the following season.
The move to Monaco in 2013 was believed to be worth about €60 million (£47 million), though there were suspicions that the deal owed much to a third-party ownership agreement that meant Doyen Sports Investments took 55 per cent of the profits.
Last week Falcao, who has a daughter with his wife Lorelei Taron, the Argentinian singer, was rumoured to be joining Rodriguez at Real Madrid after he tweeted: “Dream come true #halamadrid”. The message was deleted shortly afterwards, with the player denying that he had agitated for a move back to La Liga.