Radamel Falcao signs deal to join Chelsea – report

Falcao’s uncle and father have confirmed to The Guardian that a contract has been signed between the striker and Chelsea.

According to the paper, a one-year loan deal has been agreed between Chelsea and Monaco with an option to make the move permanent next summer.

Chelsea are yet to officially announce the signing but have held three weeks of talks with Falcao’s representative, Jorge Mendes, in a bid to reach an agreement regarding the forward’s £265,000-a-week wages.

The Guardian reports that the Premier League champions will agree to pay the striker nearer £180,000-a-week with a loan fee negotiated at around £4 million.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho is another of Mendes’s clients and has said he intends to “help Falcao get back to his level” after a torrid season at Manchester United following a serious knee ligament injury.

Mourinho would love nothing more than to be the man who turned Falcao's career in English football around after United failed to get much out of the Colombian. There was little doubt that the striker could not function as he wanted to last season following his very serious knee injury, so it represents a gamble of sorts for Chelsea in taking on his mammoth wages, even if it is initially a loan deal with a fee attached. If Mourinho can somehow get Falcao back to form and restore his confidence then he has a world-class forward to back up Diego Costa. If not, well it'll just go down as a very expensive loan deal.