Radamel Falcao a total disappointment, all teams should steer clear of the toxic striker

The once-great striker, a brute with an insatiable appetite for goals and a prolific scoring record to match, will not be able to revive his Manchester United career – a woeful return of just four goals has made damn sure of that – and he will arrive back in the French Riviera this summer knowing that there will be very few options left for him.

The Colombian appeared to have it all just a few short years ago and was regarded as one of the best strikers in European football, and rightly so. 41 goals in 51 league appearances for Porto and 52 in 68 for Atletico Madrid demonstrate the quality he possesses. And although it is difficult to truly gauge his ability by the tally he acrued in Portugal, the success he achieved in Spain – a country in which there are, or perhaps were, two frontrunners in Barcelona and Real – justified his position alongside Europe’s elite strikers.

But Falcao’s transfer to mega-rich Monaco, a club that had recently gained promotion back into French football’s top flight due to the cash influx of Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, suggested that the Colombian’s focus had strayed somewhat. From striving to help Atletico break the La Liga duopoly – an incredible feat which came exactly 12 months after his departure – Falcao arrived at the star-studded, newly-promoted Monaco alongside a host of new faces without any idea of what lay ahead. All that he did know was that with each passing week he was £265,000 better off.

Having featured just 20 times for Monaco, almost in the realisation that playing in front of 18,000 fans in a largely uncompetitive league wasn’t all that he’d hoped, Falcao’s move to Man United was a “dream”, as he put it. But it’s swiftly turned into a nightmare.

Old Trafford was his shop window. He was handed a lifeline, gifted the biggest stage of them all to prove that he had recovered from the knee injury that ruled him out of the World Cup and that he could still be classed as a deadly striker.

But, sadly, he has failed on both accounts and must be rather worried about what the future holds for him.

Reports in the media have suggested that the Colombian could seal a switch to either one of United’s most fierce rivals, Man City or Liverpool, but those two clubs would be incredibly foolish to gamble on Falcao – and that is exactly what it would be, a gamble. A huge one.

In fact, any top European club should steer well clear of the toxic striker because of the vast amount of baggage that would accompany his transfer – a transfer that would put huge strains on most clubs’ finances.

Prior to his arrival at Old Trafford, United and Monaco agreed a £6 million loan deal with a view to a permanent contract at the end of the current campain. The sum to take Falcao permanently is a staggering £43.5m and the French outfit are likely to demand a similar figure from any potential suitor.

But who in their right mind would even consider paying anything like that amount, particularly for a player that quite clearly has an inability to recover sufficiently from injuries? Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has deemed the striker fit enough to play a full 90 minutes on just four occasions this season.

Understandably, Falcao has spoken of his desire to play more football, though he reportedly broke down in tears to a close friend when Van Gaal provided him with that chance by including him in the Red Devils’ Under-21 side to face Tottenham earlier this month.

So maybe the issue with his struggle to regain full fitness doesn’t lie with more playing time, but with the fact that he is no longer a spring chicken. It’s no secret that the older you get, the longer your recovery time is – any 29-year-old will tell you that. But can we be absolutely certain that Falcao IS 29?

For years, questions regarding his age have loomed over him like a shadow. On a number of occasions he has used the media in an attempt to quash rumours that he is in fact two years older, and even before he had kicked a ball for Manchester United the club were forced to release a statement to explain they were aware of the ‘issue’.

It seems that United are satisfied with the age given on any official documents, but, theoretically, were he indeed 31, he could be forgiven for having trouble in overcoming that knee injury.

Many have also pointed to the striker’s reluctance in challenging opponents with the tenacity, courage and force that earned him the nickname El Tigre. Once again, this could stem from the cruciate knee ligament injury his sustained in January 2014, but the truth is that Falcao is no longer the striker he once was.

He will return to Monaco at the end of the current Premier League campaign with a meagre goal tally to his name, his tail between his legs and his career in limbo.

It will be a sad sight to see one of Europe’s once-great forwards reduced to little more than a memory, but in an age when those battling for European supremacy can’t afford mistakes – both on and off the field, with Financial Fair Play rules dictating clubs’ transfer policies – a failed attempt at redemption means that no club should ever gamble again on the totally toxic Falcao.