Manchester United have done some major reconstruction on their squad, this does not resemble the team that was struggling under David Moyes, and Louis Van Gaal has broken the bank to bring in Angel Di Maria and brought in a few mainstays to help rebuild the side. Critics have stated that Van Gaal has received more support from the club than Moyes did and hence has been able to bring in expensive players when Moyes was left to struggle with just one signing in the summer transfer window.
Radamel Falcao was brought in to help the Manchester United attack; he is currently on loan from his parent club, Monaco and for all the hype that has surrounded the loan signing, El Tigre as he is known for his goal scoring abilities, has been more like a timid house cat rather than a roaring success at Old Trafford.
In his 5 games for Manchester United, Falcao has scored once and has provided a couple of assists, that is a ratio which pales in comparison to his earlier record in Europe, since he has moved to the European leagues, Falcao has scored 153 goals in just 197 games. He has been a huge success both at Porto and Atletico Madrid where he smashed scoring records in Europe, including that of scoring the most goals in a European competition, beating Jurgen Klinsmann’s record of 15 goals by 2 goals as he notched up 17.
A big money move to Monaco was the last thing people expected after his prevails with Atletico Madrid and disaster struck when he suffered a major knee injury, the second of his career, it made him miss the entire season and he could not recover in enough time to participate in the 2014 World Cup where he could have taken Colombia much further than they did go.
Have faith and the best will come
United may be worried but the fact is that Falcao had a serious knee injury in 2006 but after being out for 12 months, Falcao came back into the River Plate side and became their top scorer as he guided them to the Clausura title. Falcao needs some time to recuperate from his ACL injury, something which is not a quick fix.
The important thing is that the United physiotherapists need to work hard on Falcao so that he can have the same mobility he used to have before he suffered his injury, time and again we have seen that players coming back from ACL injuries often end up getting injured yet again or lose a part of their game. Fortunately for Falcao, pace was not one of his major strengths, that is something which can work for his longevity in the game.
At 28 years old, he still has a few good years left in the game and being a centre forward, his best years are yet to come. He is not a Lionel Messi or a Cristiano Ronaldo, then again no one can be like that pair but his goal scoring is more dependent on others providing the crosses and passes rather than him running about and taking on defenders before taking it past the goalkeepers. He is a proper fox in the box, something like a Ruud Van Nistelrooy and is great in the air as well, although being only 5’10” in height.
He is probably the best finisher in the game at the moment and had it not been for his injury, he would probably have scored a glut of goals for Monaco, patience is a virtue and that is what is needed at the moment for Manchester United. Falcao would be missing the next game against Arsenal as well in a couple of weeks according to manager Louis Van Gaal but that should not dishearten fans, a well-rested and recovered Radamel Falcao could fire United back to the UEFA Champions League spots.