According to a report in The Guardian, AS Monaco have offered striker Radamel Falcao to Manchester City for the small, small price of €70 million. The interest from City appears to be there, but the work the club will have to do to make a potential deal work under financial fair play rules could make a move tricky.
Manchester City working against time, financial rules to sign Radamel Falcao
Manuel Pellegrini apparently wants to sign the Colombian striker, but City will have to navigate the turbulent waters of financial fair play to make it happen.
Michael Regan
Why it makes sense
Manchester City could certainly use the offensive punch that Falcao could provide. Eden Džeko has had a quiet start to the season, and while Sergio Agüero and Steven Jovetić have two goals apiece, neither has proven they can stay consistently healthy over the course of a long season. With Chelsea adding more firepower on Sunday with the singing of Loic Remy, the pressure is on Manuel Pellegrini to sure up his attack, especially after his side failed to score in a 1-0 home loss against Stoke City.
Why it doesn’t make sense
Financial fair play is looming over this potential deal like dark clouds building on the horizon before a thunderstorm. After the club was punished for financial indiscretions by UEFA, they have to be more careful with their spending to ensure that repeated offenses don't spur UEFA into removing them from the Champions League. It's unlikely that would happen, but if City are smart, they won't tempt fate. In order to make the Falcao deal work, they'll need to counter the high cost of signing the Colombian by selling some combination of Álvaro Negredo, Micah Richards, Matija Nastasic and Scott Sinclair to up the amount of money they can spend.
Likelihood it happens
Considering the financial issues involved and the number of players that City might have to sell in order to balance the books, this deal could be tough to pull off. Add in the fact that the transfer window closes on Monday at 11pm in England, and they have less than 36 hours to sell several players, agree to a fee, and agree to wages with Falcao's agent. With all those factors working against City, we'll give this deal a 5 out of 10 chance of happening. Of course, there's always the prospect of a loan deal.
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