Falcao reveals he joined Manchester United at the wrong time and had long wanted Chelsea move

Radamel Falcao has opened up about his ill-fated 2014 loan spell at Manchester United, saying he arrived at Old Trafford at the wrong time and that he had privately wanted to join Chelsea long before that move materialised the following summer.

The Colombian striker joined United on deadline day in August 2014 from Monaco, having only recently recovered from a serious ACL injury. Despite a prolific record at Porto and Atletico Madrid, Falcao managed just four goals in 29 appearances across all competitions before the loan was cut short.

Speaking on former Atletico team-mate Mario Suarez’s podcast El camino de Mario, Falcao pointed to the club’s loss of direction following Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement and the appointment of Louis van Gaal as the central reasons his time in Manchester failed to ignite. “I arrived at the wrong time: Ferguson had just left and the club was adrift,” he said. “They kept making mistakes. Van Gaal was there, which is complicated.”

Falcao described a frank but frustrating relationship with the Dutch manager, recalling the moment Van Gaal told him he was changing the system. “He told me he wanted to change the system. ‘I’m going to put Van Persie ahead of you,’ he told me,” Falcao said. “I could see there were interests at play beyond simply choosing one player over another. Anyway, he ended up falling out with Van Persie and Robin left the club after that.”

Falcao also claimed Van Gaal subjected him to “humiliation”, though the full details of that account were not available in the source material.

Chelsea signed Falcao on a further season-long loan in the summer of 2015, but his time at Stamford Bridge proved equally disappointing — just 12 appearances and one goal, with injuries again limiting his impact.

Yet the move to west London was one Falcao had long coveted. Speaking to Chelsea TV upon his arrival, he said: “I had decided I would like to join Chelsea some years ago. The media talked about me and Chelsea and it was not possible, but this summer finally I come.”

He also credited former Chelsea defender Ricardo Carvalho, a former Atletico team-mate, with encouraging the switch. “He spoke with me about the club and told me how big Chelsea is and that he had a very good time here,” Falcao said.

Falcao retired in 2022 after spells at Galatasaray and Rayo Vallecano. He is now 40 years old.