United never needed a striker, let alone a world class one. They had with them a plethora of world class talent up top with the likes of Rooney, van Persie and Danny Welbeck. Louis van Gaal made a brave decision of letting go of an academy graduate in Welbeck for a price of around £16 million and bring in Falcao, who hasn’t featured in any games for either AS Monaco or Columbia over more than 6 months. What intrigues me more is that bringing in Falcao for a loan spell itself has cost United a massive £10 million just to keep him at Old Trafford for a year. It indeed speaks volumes of the desperation of United to get some Champions League football for the next season.
Falcao, however, has been of no use for United with just one goal in his short stint at the club. Injuries don’t seem to want to leave his side, keeping the talented striker out of action for majority of the season. Falcao hasn’t started since two months for United with his knee giving up every now and then, making it difficult for van Gaal to put him up front to face the physicality of the Premier League. What is Falcao doing wrong that is keeping him out of the game which made him a superstar just a season ago?
The answer is simple. Falcao, who could have joined any big club in Europe with his uprising at Athletico Madrid, chose to join a team his huge cash deposits in its vault with new owners coming in. Any club would have had him at that moment, for all his wage demands. But, he chose AS Monaco to fulfil a lust for money. As much as he would deny this fact, it is always relevant with the way he declined so many huge offers from Europe’s elite to commence football in the lesser known French League.
The man who single-handedly destroyed Chelsea in a European Cup match, is fighting hard in training to get in front of 19-year old academy graduate, James Wilson. What would have happened if he hadn’t joined Monaco? Maybe, he would not have suffered with a horrendous injury. Maybe, he would have played the World Cup and taken Columbia to a much more advanced position than they already enjoyed. Maybe, he would have danced in the celebration of every goal as his teammates did in Brazil. Maybe, we wouldn’t have ever seen him wearing the United No.9 jersey either. These are the ‘ifs’ and ‘maybes’ for which there are no perfect answers.
Radamel Falcao, who scored a humungous 52 goals in 68 appearances at Athletico Madrid, has shown a few glimpses in the red shirt of United of his unique, undeniable talent. He is every bit of a player he was in Spain. The temperament, the swagger, the threat, the work ethic, he has it all. The only things he needs now is fitness and more importantly belief in himself, about who he was, is and will be in the future.
The world has seen him seep into his own shadow, waiting for the sun to shorten the shadow’s height. But, all he has to do turn around and face the sun.
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