FALCAO

Chelsea Football Club is delighted to announce we have agreed terms with Monaco for the season-long loan of Radamel Falcao.

The Colombian international will link up with Jose Mourinho’s squad for the 2015/16 campaign and said: 'I am very happy to be joining Chelsea and can't wait to start training and help with our aim of retaining the league title and being successful in Europe.'

The 29-year-old has built a reputation as one of Europe’s most feared strikers, having started his career as a teenager in his homeland before joining Argentinian giants River Plate in 2001.

Eight years later, having established himself as one of South America’s hottest properties, Falcao arrived in Europe at Porto, where he made his Champions League debut against Chelsea. He may not have scored that evening but soon began finding the net regularly as he lifted successive Europa League titles, first with Porto and the second after joining Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2011.

Having scored a hat-trick against the Blues in the 2012 UEFA Super Cup, the striker left Madrid for Monaco in the summer of 2013, enjoying an impressive first half of the campaign before injury ruled him out of the rest of the season and the following summer’s World Cup.

After two goals in three games at the beginning of last season, he joined Manchester United on loan for the campaign, helping Louis van Gaal’s side back into the Champions League.

Falcao is now reunited with former Atletico team-mates Thibaut Courtois, Filipe Luis and Diego Costa, as well as international colleague Juan Cuadrado.

Radamel Falcao ‏@FALCAO  3h
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Very happy to join Chelsea and help us look to retain the league title and be successful in Europe.

Kick wrote:Meh, as long as Falcao can pass and finds his poaching skills again, we'll be fine.

Blue wrote:This seems like Mou doing Jorge Mendes a favor by signing this scrub.

Art Morte wrote:

Blue wrote:This seems like Mou doing Jorge Mendes a favor by signing this scrub.

Shed wrote:Yea. Mourinho signed him himself. The owner and executives first read about it on the site yesterday like the rest of us. Yup.

Uncanny wrote:who knows, let's just see how the first few months are with him.  Atleast with Falcao we aren't going to have high expectations like we did when torres first joined us.  Hopefully he will enjoy his time with us, and we will appreciate him in return as well.  Best of luck Falcao.

huntsman wrote:This got nothing to do with who heard what and from which source. Mourinho  is pulling the strings.

Radamel Falcao could ask Chelsea to cancel his season-long loan in January if he remains on the Stamford Bridge sidelines.
Falcao did not even make the substitutes’ bench on Saturday, despite being fit, and the striker was one of three players Jose Mourinho did not take to Porto for the club’s last Champions League trip.
That has left Falcao frustrated and fearing for his place in the Colombia team, having scored only one Premier League goal for Chelsea.
Mourinho had hoped to coax Falcao’s best form out of him, but that already looks unlikely as the 29-year-old has appeared a shadow of his former self since first moving on loan to Manchester United last season.

Spanish newspapers have linked Barcelona, who are on the lookout for a striker, with Falcao and there have been enquiries to his representatives over whether he might be available in January.
Chelsea, Monaco and Falcao would all have to agree to cancel the player’s loan deal for him to be able to move elsewhere in January, and Mourinho would want to be sure of signing a replacement before letting him go. Chelsea considered signing Christian Benteke as back-up to Diego Costa in the summer, but instead took a gamble on Falcao that is yet to show any sign of paying off.