Radamel Falcao is once again being linked with a move to Stamford Bridge as fresh reports in France claim that Monaco have a Financial Fair Play pact with Roman Abramovich that will see the striker sign for Chelsea.
Le10 Sport have been cited as the main source of speculation and reported that Falcao was close to signing for Chelsea in 2012 in a cash plus Fernando Torres deal before Abramovich decided to give his goal-shy forward another chance but will go back for him as the Spaniard has failed to convince.
Abramovich is on good terms with Monaco’s billionaire owner Dmitry Rybolovlev which could help things along but the most crucial person in the deal could be super-agent Jorge Mendes, who is allegedly looking for a way out of the principality on behalf of his client Falcao and also represents Blues boss Jose Mourinho.
There’s an issue rumbling on in France about the fairness of Monaco’s luxury of being able to offer tax-free salaries to footballers when the rest of the Ligue 1 clubs cannot and they may be forced to cash-in on Falcao in order to meet UEFA FFP regulations, so Chelsea would be doing them quite a favour in return for such a prolific talent.
It’s thought that Monaco could make anything between €60-80 million in the deal and the inclusion of Torres hasn’t been ruled out, although Claudio Ranieri may prefer a move for Porto’s Jackson Martinez because of the Spain forward’s shortcomings in front of goal over the past few seasons.
Ordinarily this sort of transfer rumour would be brushed off as pure speculation and even as ridiculous but because of the financial implications and the involvement of Mendes it appears more and more feasible. During the summer we saw how Russian club Anzhi Makhachkala were forced to sell some of their prized assets due to money problems and although the circumstances were different Monaco may have to sell Falcao.
Source: Sport Witness
