As they watched Radamel Falcao destroy their team with a stunning, 39-minute hat-trick in Atletico Madrid’s 4-1 triumph in the Uefa Super Cup, in September 2012, Chelsea fans probably hoped that one day they would witness the striker playing for their side.
That wish was granted three years later when Falcao agreed a season-long loan from Monaco this summer, but the move is not turning out anything like those supporters would have wanted.
The Colombian has made just one start in the Premier League and Champions League this term, failing to convince Jose Mourinho that he is a viable alternative to Diego Costa, who has missed games through suspension and injury and been short of form when on the pitch.
Reports emerged at the weekend that Chelsea are considering terminating the loan deal months before its expiration, a move that could mark the end of the Falcao’s career at the highest level of European football.
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It has been quite the fall for a man who was once considered the continent’s deadliest centre-forward.
Falcao first came to prominence at Porto, where he spent two seasons between 2009 and 2011. He scored 72 goals in 87 appearances to earn a move to Atletico, where 70 strikes in 91 outings saw him linked to some of the world’s biggest clubs.
It was puzzling, then, that Monaco secured his signature ahead of Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea and Real Madrid in May 2013.
The complex and controversial issue of third-party ownership meant there was more to the transfer than initially met the eye, with many speculating that the switch was likely to be a temporary arrangement before Madrid brought the striker to the Santiago Bernabeu, something they would not have been able to do by directly from city rivals Atletico.
Unfortunately, for Falcao, he has looked a shadow of his former self since he moved to Ligue 1.
An anterior-cruciate knee injury suffered in January of last year looks to have been the turning point.
At his best, Falcao was a traditional No 9 concerned only with finding the back of the net. Always looking to position himself on the shoulder of the last defender, his most important attributes were his finishing and speed off the mark.
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His acceleration, however, has deserted him since the ACL tear, and he has struggled to adapt his game to compensate; given that the former River Plate man has usually played alongside a strike partner because of the underdevelopment of his link-up and back-to-goal play, it was always unlikely that he would be able to carry the same threat after being forced to drastically change the way he plays.
Michael Owen and Fernando Torres, two other forwards who suffered after physical impairments robbed them of the qualities that made them the players they were, would sympathise with Falcao’s predicament.
His exploits at Manchester United last season confirmed what everyone feared: the Colombia international proved that he was no longer the lethal marksman he once was, and no tears were shed at Old Trafford when it became clear that his one-year loan would not be extended.
Things have not improved at Chelsea this time around, with Falcao completing 90 minutes on just two occasions — one of those being the League Cup victory over Walsall in September.
Mourinho has dropped key players and switched between formations in an attempt to lift the Premier League champions out of their malaise, yet still Falcao has been barely afforded a chance.
It is indicative of the his decline, at age 29, which is particularly sad because of the speed at which it has happened.
Just three years after almost single-handedly vanquishing Chelsea in the Uefa Super Cup, Falcao could be set to leave Stamford Bridge not with a bang but with a whimper.
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