RADAMEL Falcao is rumoured to be on the verge of a loan switch to the Stamford Bridge after his miserable spell at Old Trafford last season. Chelsea surely need a striker to support injury-prone but very prolific top hitman Diego Costa. The Blues certainly need a deadlier striker than Loic Remy who I learn also wants to depart the Bridge in search of first team football.
Colombia captain, Falcao is undoubtedly a marquee striker, but sadly one whose sell-by date might have long gone. In his hey days, up to some 24 months ago, El Matador was arguably the deadliest hitman in the business of shaking opponents nets.
Sadly this very likeable burly hitman seems to have lost his lethal touch forever since the long term injury that made him miss last year’s World Cup in Brazil. At 29, Falcao should be in his prime as is usually the case for most players.
However, for strikers who hit the limelight so early in life, they feel 10 years older at 29! And examples abound. The great Pele broke into reckoning aged 15 years. But his last big hurrah was at 29, some 45 years ago. Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen, Ronaldo Da Lima and Fernando Torres, just to mention a few, all broke into top flight football as teenagers. But none of them were acclaimed beyond 27 years of age.
The simple truth is that top flight strikers in today’s very frenetic football have a shelf-life of about 10 years after which they start going down the hill. Falcao started playing top football at Rivers Plate in 2001, and even though he is just 29, he might have passed his prime after 14 excruciating years of toil and bruises plucking goals away against some of the most uncompromising defenders in the world.
Mourinho says he would like to revive Falcao’s career should the Colombian opt for the Bridge next season. But I have my doubts especially after the striker’s forgettable outing at the ongoing Copa America where his country was bundled out in the quarter-finals.
I urge Chelsea fans who are over the moon about the prospects of Falcao becoming a Blue to temper their optimism with some caution. And you only need to look back at last season when he missed a couple of open goal sitters which grand-mother strikers would bury effortlessly to start thinking twice.
I have presented below Falcao’s career goals for all the clubs he has played for. Please, take note of his steady rise and subsequent decline in the stats below:
FALCAO’S CLUB CAREER GAMES/GOALS
1999–2001 Lanceros Boyacá 8 Matches (1 Goal)
2001–2009 River Plate 90 (34)
2009–2011 Porto 51 (41)
2011–2013 Atlético Madrid 68 (52)
2013–Date Monaco 20 (11)
2014–2015 Manchester United (loan) 26 (4)
COMMENTS