Falcao denies Chelsea transfer agreement

There have been stories in the English and Spanish media lately suggesting that Chelsea had won the battle to sign the Colombian international Radamel Falcao from Atletico Madrid, but the striker has denied that any agreement is in place. This does not mean that he won’t be coming to Stamford Bridge in the summer, but it seems that there is still work to be done by the Blues to secure the services of one of the most coveted players in world football.

“I have received no concrete offers to leave Atletico Madrid,” revealed Falcao. “I have three years of contract with Atletico.”

This news may alert some of the other big clubs around Europe that they may still have a chance to get the prolific hit man. Maybe it is a ploy by Atletico to get Chelsea to hurry up, or to squeeze a bit more out of the deal, but it is a little worrying for Chelsea fans.

The stories in the papers this week about Chelsea’s young keeper, Thibaut Courtois, who is on loan at Atletico possibly coming back to England to spend a year on loan at a Premier League club may have something to do with this. Atletico would love to sign Courtois permanently, or at least keep him on loam for longer. Courtois looks set to be one of the best keepers in the world, so we do not want to sell him, but may have to in order to get Falcao. I think it more likely that Chelsea are using the threat of stopping his loan deal to persuade Atletico to release Falcao and not screw us too much on the price.

The other factor is Fernando Torres. It has been suggested that the Spaniard could return to his former club in part exchange for Falcao, but Torres is in the paper today saying that he wants to stay at Stamford Bridge. Obviously Atletico will have a big hole to fill if they sell Falcao, so they will be concerned about a replacement. Add to that the uncertainty over who will be in charge of Chelsea for next season and there may be quite a few twists and turns before we know if Falcao will soon be wearing Blue.