Radamel Falcao moves to Chelsea - but can Jose Mourinho save his career?

The English and French sides both shared the widely-expected news via Twitter, with the player going on a season-long loan with an option to buy.

"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," said Falcao.

The 29-year-old endured a miserable spell at Manchester United last season, his reputation nose diving via a succession of missed chances that quickly saw him relegated to a bit-part player making occasional appearances from the bench.

To no great surprise United did not take up their option to buy a player who had apparently become as toothless at United as he had been lethal during his spells with Porto and Atletico Madrid.

Yet with Monaco determined to put him out on loan once more - no doubt to mitigate his reported €250,000-a-week wages - Chelsea stepped forward as unlikely suitors.

Just a few weeks ago Jose Mourinho said that, "It hurts me that people in England believe that Falcao is the one seen at Manchester United. He is a player who I know, who I have followed since Atlético Madrid, and if I can help Falcao to reach his level, I will do it.”

That now seems to be Mourinho's plan - and if the Portuguese boss successfully resurrects the Colombian's career, it will leave Chelsea with a strikeforce better than any in Europe save perhaps the awesome front three at Barcelona. A fully fit and fully firing Falcao in combination with the rampaging Diego Costa would be a devastating combination.

Mourinho's method since rejoining Chelsea suggests that he could be the man to get things right with Falcao. Cesc Fabregas is back to being one of the best midfielders in Europe after his often disappointing spell at Barcelona, while the flourishing of Nemanja Matic has been extraordinary under Mourinho's tutelage.

Yet there have been disasters as well. Kevin de Bruyne, Juan Mata and Juan Cuadrado have all seen their careers founder in the Mourinho regime - and De Bruyne's re-emergence as a supreme talent since his move to Wolfsburg suggests that there are some talents Mourinho is simply unable to harness.

Given Mourinho's ups and downs with his acquisitions, there is a big worry here for Chelsea fans: is this move being made because Chelsea need another striker? Or is Mourinho trying to prove to his critics - and possibly also himself - that he is capable of nurturing and moulding talent even when it doesn't quite fit into his rigid tactical structures? And is he trying to prove himself a better manager of people than Louis van Gaal?

Even more disturbing is the question of Jorge Mendes, the 'Super Agent' who represents both Mourinho and Falcao - not to mention Cristiano Ronaldo, David de Gea, Angel di Maria, and more than a dozen other top players. The last time we saw a transfer that made this little logical sense it was Manchester United's 2010 deal for Portuguese flop Bebe - a deal which had Mendes's fingerprints all over it. United fans will hope that this deal doesn't end up like that one did.

Alex Hess, Eurosport.co.uk: "Hope remains that the past season, miserable as it’s been, has simply been a necessary stage in a gradual rehabilitation. Alan Shearer, who suffered a similarly damaging injury to Falcao’s at the same stage in his career, scored two goals in 17 games in his recovery season but followed it up with 27-, 25- and 28-goal campaigns respectively. Ruud van Nistelrooy is another to overcome the much-feared cruciate rupture, given time and patience. But there are others – Michael Owen, Michael Essien – who have seen cruciate damage completely neuter their physical supremacy.

"Of those who ever watched Falcao at his peak, it would take a dark, joyless soul to not hope that his name ends up tallied alongside the former names rather than the latter. But anyone who’s watched him recently will surely agree that right now, he seems fated to exist as a living, breathing proof of the theory that once it’s gone, it’s gone."

Dominic Fifield, The Guardian: "Mourinho will not want to lose face on this deal. He will want his judgment to be proved correct. Most managers would probably back themselves to reinvigorate a player who had once been considered the most ferocious forward of his generation. The manager who claimed the Premier League for Chelsea last term will see a player still capable of covering huge distances over 90 minutes even last season, a striker whose quickest darts were more rapid than those of Robin van Persie, and whose eagerness to work in all areas of the pitch would fit into the more selfless demands of Chelsea’s approach."

The Falcao who when the Blues were newly-minted Champions League winners would have been a stupendous signing, and indeed Chelsea were strongly linked to the Colombian back then. But they missed out - or, as many said given his subsequent poor returns at Monaco, they dodged a bullet. Given Falcao's dismal efforts at United - where he looked keen but utterly ineffective - you'd think Chelsea would have counted themselves even luckier to have avoided the player.

Throw in all those, plus - suggesting that he's already well into his thirties - and you really have to wonder what strange back-room deals really lie at the heart of this signing. Here's hoping Falcao and Mourinho will prove us wrong, because as Alex Hess, above, said you'd have to be a "dark, joyless soul" not to want to see Falcao back at his best.