Radamel Falcao will fly to meet his Chelsea team-mates in New York tomorrow and he might want to thank a couple of them for his second chance in English football.
Though there is a debate as to whether the Colombian striker can still cut it after his knee ligament surgery in 2014, having scored just four goals for Manchester United last season, it turns out Falcao had some powerful advocates in the Chelsea dressing room.
When Jose Mourinho was weighing up whether Falcao was a suitable replacement for Didier Drogba, he sought out his centre halves, John Terry and Gary Cahill. United lost 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in April but it seemed Falcao did enough that evening to convince the Chelsea defenders he is still a handful.
‘We think the bright movement is there, the movement to get freedom in the box to score goals is there,’ said Mourinho. ‘Our players had difficulty controlling him all the time and we feel the potential is there.’
Three years ago when Falcao, then 26, was at Atletico Madrid and looked like the most fearsome striker in Europe, Mourinho was manager of city rivals Real and had a close-up view.
Falcao was ahead of Diego Costa in the pecking order. But the Colombia striker, who is on loan at Chelsea from Monaco, is unhappy that he is perceived as a failure in England after his year at United and is apparently determined to put that right.
‘It’s his motivation,’ said Mourinho. ‘He did a lot of things to come to us. He lost money to come to us, he didn’t want to listen to other offers. He helped us a lot to do a deal with Monaco. So we think we can help him and he can help us.’
Falcao will be eased into this tour as a spectator against New York Red Bulls on Wednesday. A substitute appearance against Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday is likely to be his first outing. But Mourinho expects him to be ready to face Swansea on Saturday August 8, the opening day of the Premier League season. And although Falcao may start behind Costa in the Chelsea pecking order, the Chelsea manager insists the centre forward spot is up for grabs.
‘He can be second, first or third,’ said Mourinho. ‘He knows that, Diego knows that and Loic Remy knows that. It is open competition between the three of them.’
Chelsea’s move for Augsburg left back Abdul Baba Rahman is being held up by Atletico’s Madrid’s failure to match Chelsea £15m valuation of Filipe Luis. Mourinho wants to bring in the 21-year-old Ghana international but cannot do so until Atletico agree terms with the club on Filipe Luis.
Similarly, Juan Cuadrado will only be allowed to leave Chelsea if they recoup the £23million they paid for him in January. That might open the way for Mourinho to compete with Van Gaal for Pedro — Chelsea would only consider a move for the Barcelona player if one of their wide players leaves.
Chelsea’s Nathan Ake is wanted on loan by Newcastle, Leicester and Watford. Ake’s future at Stamford Bridge has become uncertain since it became clear that Mourinho would like to offer transfer target John Stones the No 6 shirt, which belongs to Ake.– Daily Mail