Deadline Day 2014 has officially passed and Radamel Falcao was amongst one of the most talked-about players to make a move in the final countdown.
The Colombian forward was confirmed on 1st September to make the transfer from Monaco to Manchester United, in a move which has led some football experts to brand manager Louis van Gaal “audacious.
28-year-old Falcao joins the Red Devils after a promising career with Monaco, Atlético Madrid and Porto, to name but a few. Van Gaal will surely be looking forward to making the most of Falcao’s goal-scoring potential, which includes 11 goals in 20 appearances with Monaco, 52 goals in 68 appearances with La Liga champions Atlético Madrid and 41 goals in 51 appearances with Porto.
It’s no wonder that Falcao has such a fine record of scoring – he’s often been quoted as looking to Thierry Henry as his inspiration. The 37-year-old Frenchman holds the record as the France’s all-time goal scorer, and is currently third in the list of all-time Premier League scorers, behind Alan Shearer and Andy Cole.
But how will a move to the Premier League transpire for Falcao? Indeed, the current move is not Falcao’s first sniff of a chance to enter the English league – in 2008, Aston Villa were reportedly interested in signing the star. Having played in Spanish league La Liga, Falcao is no stranger to the high pressures of world-class football, though he may struggle settling into a team which is already suffering so much in the Premier League.
He’s also a potentially risky candidate for van Gaal as far as injuries are concerned. He has already had to undergo surgery twice on his right knee – once in November 2005 while playing for River Plate, and again in pre-season training in January 2006.
Arguably, fans of the Red Devils could say that van Gaal would be wise to focus on investing in defenders rather than strikers, and Wayne Rooney could find himself threatened by the new move. In a team that’s already rich with potentially promising strikers in the form of newly-assigned captain Rooney and Dutch superstar Robin Van Persie, van Gaal may be one forward too far.
However, Falcao didn’t earn the name ‘El Tigre’ while playing at River Plate for nothing. If he’s fit to play against Manchester United’s upcoming fixtures of bottom-of-the-table teams, then there’s every chance that the folks at www.bookies.com could soon be slashing their odds for the Red Devils to make a comeback this season.
