Falcao - King of Europa League set for a move?

In a league full of big names, Messi and Ronaldo are the awesome-twosome who adorn newspapers’ headlines every weekend. Largely responsible for their respective teams’ accolades, very few remain unknown to the skills of probably the world’s two best players. Though lately, one more name has been making headlines and for all the good reasons.

Atletico Madrid’s Colombian striker Radamel Falcao has been nothing short of phenomenal since the beginning of the season 2012/13. Matching both Ronaldo and Messi goal for goal, Falcao as he’s commonly known, has terrorised the defences of teams strong and weak alike. He’s been responsible for Atletico’s winning of the Europa League 2011/12 and is rightfully crowned as the King of Europa League. Creating a havoc and scoring a sensational hat-trick in the UEFA Super Cup vs ChelseaFC, he’s been a prime target of some of the biggest managers and clubs alike.

Moreover, ever since his arrival in Europe after he joined the Portuguese club FC Porto, he’s been at the centre of every success the clubs he’s played for have enjoyed. After all, in the three seasons he’s been playing in Europe, Falcao has scored a whopping 100 goals for both Atletico Madrid and FC Porto. It is this amazing striker who’s been spearheading Atletico’s attack this season to help them maintain the no.1 spot, jointly held by Barcelona in La Liga.

All this spices up one big speculation and a possible move to a bigger club, considering Atletico Madrid are under a huge debt. The bosses at the Madrid club have estimated the worth of their ace striker to be around a whopping £48 million, saying that such a cost would help them get rid of the financial trouble the club has been facing in recent times.

But all said, Falcao still remains a very important part of the team and the management won’t let him go for cheap. Clubs like Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal and Chelsea FC, all have been linked with a future move but it’s the Citizens and The Blues who seem to be leading the battle to sign the Colombian sensation.

City boss Roberto Mancini flew to Spain to check on the striker at the weekend. And the Italian saw the Colombian hotshot score his eighth goal of the La Liga season as Atletico beat Malaga 2-1. Mancini, who led Manchester City to winning the English Premiership, has had his share of problems with his two strikers having ‘affection’ for disciplinary conducts. It is in the air that the City boss will be willing to sell Mario Balotelli in the January window, creating a vacancy which Falcao can fill. If it is to be believed, Roberto Mancini will be getting a bankroll of about 60m Euros(£48.3m) which would enable him to sign Falcao as his buy out clause states the same value.

But Falcao’s been a prime target of Chelsea FC and their Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich ever since he began his goal scoring spree when he was at FC Porto. But the west London side has failed to sign Falcao in the past and ever since the hat-trick Falcao scored against them, both the manager and the owner have restrengthened their quest for the Colombian’s signature. Ever since the departure of their African sensation Didier Drogba, Fernando Torres has been given the charge to lead the attack up front, but the Spaniard has been short of his best. Signing Falcao would solve the problems up front as Lukaku’s out on a loan and Daniel Sturridge, though injured, lacks experience and the killer instinct which the Colombian lives on. As quoted by The Sun, ” The groundwork is already being done for Falcao. The owner wants everything in place now so a deal can be done before any other club can make a counter-offer”, said the source at Chelsea. If this is to be believed, the west London side are well on their way to land an amazing striker who can lead them to glories in English Premiership.

Though what will happen and who will bag the phenomenal striker remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure that Falcao brings a confidence, pace and creativity to any side which he wears a jersey of.