Is Falcao what Chelsea needs

As Ramadel Falcao ended his third match for Colombia at the Copa America without registering a goal, many at the Chelsea hierarchy including fans should be a tad worried. With the Colombian loan transfer to Stamford Bridge seemingly cast in stone, facilitated by his powerful super-agent Jorge Mendes, his form at the South American football tournament might just be a straw in the wind. While the Colombian undoubtedly was one of the world’s best central striker at his prime, he seems to have skated past that, a signpost that was evident at Copa America for all to see. This truth was driven home more painfully during Colombia’s third game against Peru. At a time when his country was tied goalless with the later, and where frantically searching for a goal to ensure their qualification to the next round, El Tigre was hauled off by his coach at the 66 minute. The match eventually ended goalless, with Columbia qualifying by the skin of its teeth. But such speaks volume, one of which is that Falcao cannot be counted upon when the going gets tough. This also throws up the question of what Chelsea, particularly Jose Mourinho, his label mate- as they share the same agent- see in him. The Portuguese tactician, while recently speaking to Direc Tv Sports expressed his interest in bringing the striker to Stamford Bridge. “It really hurts me that people in England believe that Falcao is the guy they saw at Manchester United. He’s a player I know, one that I have followed since Atletico Madrid and if I can help Falcao arrive at his level I will do it,”he said.

Mourinho, clearly passionate about Falcao, was wise to gloss over El Tigre’s performance at United, because it was dreadful. A return of 4 goals in 17 appearances, hardly justifies £265,000 weekly wage. Little wonder United opted out from making his loan deal from Monaco permanent, which was as much an economic sense as football. Not deterred by these, the Portuguese believes he has the magic potion to restore Falcao back to his Olympian height. Indeed at his best, the Columbian was a beast plowing 62 goals in 69 appearances for Athletico Madrid, and 68 in 83 appearances for Porto, almost averaging a goal a game. It was this red hot form that seduced the principality club to fork out £52,000,000 for the Columbian without wincing. Even at Monaco, he was off to a flying start scoring 11 goals in 19 appearances before his injury, a tear in his anterior cruciate ligament, ACL, put an end to the momentum, sideling him for almost a year. Since coming back from the ACL injury, Falcao has been a shadow of his former self evidenced by a drastic drop in his goal rate; notching 6 goals in 29 league appearances for both Monaco and United. His short per game also fell from 3.6 in the three seasons before his injury to 1.5 last season. Chelsea undoubtedly is in need of at least an additional striker to augment the two it has. Most top clubs have three or four at their disposal, which prevents a situation where they cannot field any striker, in the event of two or three incurring injury at the same time. Even so, the Blues would be chancing its arm by signing the Colombian, not just because of the hefty wage he would collect, but also because he has been injury prone since tearing his ACL. Having three injury prone striker makes no sense irrespective of whether the Colombian rediscovers his form or not. Chances are however high that the Colombian might turn out to be another

Fernando Torres, a striker whose career was on a knife edge before the Blues signed him from Liverpool for a club record of £ 50 million. Torres ended up scoring 46 goals in 117 appearances for Chelsea a far cry from his heady days at Liverpool when he banged in 81 goals in 126 appearances. Never mind that the Special one’s attempt to coax back the Spaniard’s old form was like drawing blood out of stone. If history is a guide, then Chelsea could have another Torres in the Colombian, the only difference being that the latter would be on a loan deal. But what good would such be to the reigning English champion.