Manchester United have completed their shock signing of Radamel Falcao from AS Monaco on a season-long loan. The Red Devils will have the option to make the deal permanent after the season.
Manchester United seal huge loan deal for Radamel Falcao
Radamel Falcao has joined Manchester United for the year in the biggest move of deadline day.
Christopher Lee
Falcao is not going to the Red Devils on the cheap. Reports have Manchester United paying Monaco a £6 million loan fee and massive wages that will take the club’s one-year outlay for the striker over £24 million. If Manchester United want to buy him outright, it will likely cost them £55 million.
The deal dragged on and on, with it reportedly agreed to early in the day, but it wasn’t finalized until after the transfer deadline. Manchester United had to ask for an extension, which the Premier League granted, but then they pushed right up against the deadline of the extension and didn’t complete the deal until after midnight in the UK.
Manchester United came out of nowhere to sign Falcao. It became clear in recent days that he would be on the way out of Monaco, but Manchester City and Arsenal looked like the likely landing spots. If a club pulled a shock move for him, it figured to be Real Madrid. The Red Devils were never linked to him until the reports that they had agreed to the deal surfaced, as United went from out of the conversation to signing within minutes.
Exactly how Louis van Gaal figures to use Radamel Falcao is unclear. He already has Robin van Persie and Wayne Rooney up top, with Angel Di Maria and Juan Mata also in the team so there is no obvious way to get all five on the pitch at once. Van Persie could be facing a few months out with a knee injury, but he will be back by the new year at the latest and van Gaal will have to sort out who is going to play with who, how his array of attacking talent will complement each other and how to massage the egos of those who find themselves on the bench from time to time, because some of them will have to sit.
At the very least, Manchester United are significantly more talented than they were a few weeks ago. The additions of Falcao and Di Maria give them two more outstanding players, and showed that the club weren’t joking when they said they were willing to spend big to improve the team. If they could spend to buy a centerback or central midfielder, United fans would probably be happier, though.
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