Chelsea have made a significant step in the chase to sign Atletico Madrid forward Radamel Falcao according to Spanish TV station Punto Pelota, who claim that the West London club were in secret talks with the La Liga outfit on Sunday.
Not so secret then, if it even took place at all, but the hierarchy at Stamford Bridge are long-term admirers of the Colombian and it would be no major surprise if he were to move to Chelsea this summer, especially as Chelsea’s current forwards Fernando Torres and Demba Ba have struggled for any sort of consistent goal-scoring form.
The 27-year-old is one of the most feared strikers in Europe and is currently the third highest scorer in La Liga after the usual suspects Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. A regular goal-scorer can be the difference between challenging for and winning a title and I believe that Chelsea are only two or three signings, plus a few loanees returning, from being a side that should challenge for next season’s Premier League title and the forward role is one that will be looked at.
Will Falcao move to Chelsea this summer? It’s highly likely as I don’t believe Manchester City to be in the race and Real Madrid would probably be the biggest challengers to Roman Abramovich’s chequebook even if it would be a controversial move for him to make…but we were so sure that Hulk would be a Chelsea player last year and that fizzled out in disappointment when the player made a surprise move to Russian club Zenit St. Petersburg. One thing is for sure, nobody wants a drawn out transfer saga.
Contrary to the reports in Punto Pelota, Marca are saying that the player has told the club that he isn’t going to sign for either Real or Chelsea and will see out his deal at Atletico Madrid, so make of that what you will.
In other news, Chelsea have slapped a £17 million asking price on Atletico Madrid loanee Thibaut Courtois to ward off any interest in the young keeper.
