5 players who flopped in the Premier League but flourished elsewhere

4. Radamel Falcao

Radamel Falcao struggled at both Chelsea and Manchester United

For the best part of the last decade, Colombia’s Radamel Falcao has been one of world football’s most feared strikers. He’s scored an insane amount of goals in Portugal, Spain and France – and is currently plying his trade in Turkey – but unfortunately, the man known as ‘El Tigre’ was unable to produce his best form in the Premier League during two tenures there.

Falcao rose to fame with Porto after joining them for the 2008/09 campaign, and he scored a total of 34 goals in 43 appearances across all competitions before delivering 38 in 44 appearances in the following season as his club won the Primeira League title as well as the UEFA Europa League.

A move to Atletico Madrid followed, and Falcao was able to keep up his blistering form – winning the Europa League again in 2012 and scoring 70 goals in 91 appearances for the club across two seasons. The summer of 2013 saw him sign with Monaco for a huge fee of somewhere around €60m, but despite starting life in France well, early 2014 saw him suffer a full ACL tear, sidelining him for the best part of a year.

When he returned, he made his first move to the Premier League – a loan to Manchester United, which saw him earning a monstrous £265,000 a week. Unfortunately, the move simply didn’t work for the Colombian. He looked way off the pace throughout his tenure at Old Trafford and scored just 4 goals at the club. His next loan to the Premier League – with Chelsea – went just as badly as he made just 12 appearances, scoring a single goal in the process.

Writing him off, however, proved to be a mistake; Falcao moved back to Monaco after the failed Chelsea stint, ready for the 2016/17 season - and promptly recaptured his form, scoring 30 goals in 43 appearances. A further 40 across the next two seasons followed, allowing him to rebuild his reputation.

The likely explanation is that he was never fully fit in England following his knee injury, but even so – he goes down as the very definition of a Premier League flop who thrived elsewhere.