adminEVEN Fernando Torres wasn’t relegated to the reserves.
But for £250,000-per-week Radamel Falcao – perhaps the most handsomely-rewarded second-string striker in history – this was the ultimate indignity.
Does he feel an injustice, angry with Louis van Gaal for such a degrading demotion? Or is there an acceptance that his powers have faded? In fact, they’ve gone out like a light.
At least with fellow £50million flop Torres his decline was something of a slow burn, occasionally illuminated by a flicker of glories past.
Sadly, for Falcao, there is no sign of him emerging from the darkness at Old Trafford.
An unused substitute as Manchester United struggled for a goal (Falcao has scored more than 200 in his career) during their 2-1 defeat by Arsenal in Monday’s FA Cup quarter-final, the Colombian was back at the Theatre of Nightmares 24 hours later for an Under 21 fixture against Tottenham.
He wasn’t there to cheer on the club’s next generation, he was lining up alongside them. United insist it was a fitness exercise. But fitness is allied to form, and Falcao certainly doesn’t boast the latter right now.
He failed to score against Spurs, fluffed one chance and was then withdrawn – a synopsis which could well be applied to the majority of his outings since his £6m loan move from Monaco.
The beauty of that arrangement – and it’s something of an ugly truth – is that United are not committed to making his stay permanent and there is zero chance of them doing so after his failure to impact, four goals from 19 appearances his sorry return. Compare that with the 70 strikes from 91 matches for Atletico Madrid and his demise is given some numerical context.
It was, of course, in the colours of Atletico that Falcao smashed a devastating hat-trick past Chelsea in the European Super Cup of 2012.
Every tribute in the wake of that demolition job determined that Falcao was ready-made for the Premier League – pace, power, potency, he had the lot.
Even his pre-Madrid existence supported the assertion that he was the continent’s most feared goal-getter.
There were 72 goals from just 87 games at Porto, winning with them a Portuguese title, cup and Europa League, a prize he defended the following season in Spain.
His spells at Porto and Atletico were bookended by River Plate and Monaco, where again his ratio was as good as one-in-two.
But it was that move to Monaco which proved fateful in the loss of Europe’s finest front man.
With a transfer fee of £52m and salary of around £15m, there were obvious accusations – defended by Falcao – behind his motivation.
However, it was the knee injury suffered in January of last year which robbed him of a place at the World Cup and, on the evidence of this season, a whole lot more than a mere ticket to Brazil.
Gone are the razor-sharp reactions of body and mind. Gone is the swagger, the confidence, the belief that he is the best.
Sound familiar? Over four, long years at Chelsea we witnessed the regression of Torres. In the end he left having scored just 20 league goals in 110 games.
Falcao will be lucky if he leaves United with 20 league appearances, let alone goals. Torres, of course, now resides back at Atletico, his connection with the club affording him a second chance.
At 29 and with his best days very much behind him, perhaps a similar fate awaits Falcao. — Dailymail.
Online Reporter