A tale of two strikers, burdened with talent but also disappointing in recent times, Liverpool and Manchester United took a couple of risks this season and unfortunately for them it hasn’t paid off. Mario Balotelli was always going to be a hit or miss signing and with only 1 goal in the Premier League, he has been a miss, a spectacular social media using miss. Radamel Falcao, on the other hand, has not fared any better during his season for Manchester United, he was once not even on the bench as United decided to play with a 19-year-old rather than the Colombian ace. Falcao has only scored 4 goals this season and has been on the periphery of the squad for most games as Louis Van Gaal does not seem to want to play the Colombian. So the question remains who has been the worst purchase?
Money, money, and money
While Liverpool have paid for Balotelli, with £16 million, Falcao did come for a free but his wages are astronomical and probably would end up costing the club the same as Balotelli come the end of the season.
Balotelli has only played in 14 Premier League games this season while Falcao has played in 22 games though neither of them have set the goal scoring charts on fire. Based on stats from oulala.com, Falcao has fared slightly better by providing 4 assists for his teammates while Balotelli has not helped any of his teammates score on the field.
The Colombian also has a better pass completion %, he has 85% completed passes compared to just 70% for Balotelli. Even when it comes to dribbling, the knackered knees of Falcao hold up better than Balotelli’s, Falcao has 56% successful dribbles compared to just 42% for Balotelli. Even in the air, Falcao wins more as he has won 27% of all his aerial duels while Balotelli has only won 23%.
The only stat where Falcao loses out to Balotelli is the one about shot accuracy with the Italian having a 56% shot accuracy compared to just 54% for Radamel Falcao. However the biggest stat on which player has been poor is the fact that Falcao can be sent back to Monaco at the end of the season while Balotelli will remain a Liverpool player until someone decides to take him from the club, that might be a very limited market, no one wants to take a risk in football, at least a Balotelli sized risk.