The Curious Case Of Ramadel Falcao

Ahead of Manchester United’s FA Cup Fourth-round tie with League 2 side Cambridge United tonight, manager Louis Van Gaal is expected to face some questions with respect to on-loan Colombian striker, Radamel Falcao during a press conference.

The erstwhile Monaco striker has come in for heavy criticism in recent weeks due to his goals drought and fitness issues, leading many to question the wisdom in sanctioning a £43m permanent move for the striker seeing that he has failed to impress since making a summer move to the English giants.

Despite having a plethora of creative players supplying him with the requisite ammunition necessary for him to fire in the goals for which he was hired, Falcao has failed to shake the net as regularly as he did with all his previous clubs.

The voices of  discontent increased a few decibels higher when the striker fluffed a couple of glaring goal scoring opportunities in Manchester Unite’s colourless  2-0 Premier League victory over QPR at Loftus Road. Indeed it took the impact of Marouane Fellani and James Wilson to save the team’s blushes as the Colombian huffed and puffed in front of goal. If the Red Devils hierarchy are to make a decision to either keep or discard the player based on form and statistics, then the numbers don’t make for happy reading. 3 goals in over a dozen of games for the Red Devils, miserly as it were, tells part of the story. His shots on target per game ratio so far in his loan stint at Manchester United is 0.9. Compare that to a healthier ratio of 1.7, 1.76,1.56, and 1.41 during his time at Porto, Atletico and Monaco.

His camp, led by his agent Jorge Mendes have been critical of any ire directed at him, insisting that the Colombian hitman has been dogged by injuries which has hampered his renown lethal streak whilst he has not fully settled in to the English football milieu.

Despite the commercial success enjoyed by the Red Devils over the last couple of seasons, they know can ill-afford to spend £43m on a reputation and not form manifested in the form of goals and they will be careful to scrutinize the player over the coming months. However the odds are on that the striker may probably not have his spell extended beyond the end of this current season-long £6m, £285,000/week deal signed during the summer of 2014.