Chelsea
manager Jose Mourinho said he signed striker Radamel Falcao after getting
glowing reports from centre-halves John Terry and Gary Cahill about the
Colombian's prowess.
Mourinho sought the advice of his defensive pair before agreeing to bring
the out-of-sorts Manchester United forward to Stamford Bridge, and they told
him he was still an attacker to be feared.
Both came up against Falcao when Chelsea beat United 1-0 at Stamford Bridge
in April, and although the former Atletico Madrid star did not score, he hit
the post in the second half and Terry and Cahill found him hard to handle.
Mourinho said: "I watched our game against Manchester United a few times.
"I spoke with John and Cahill a lot about him and we think the bright
movement is there, the movement to get freedom in the box to score goals is
there.
"Our players had difficulty to control him and we feel the potential is
there. Let's see if he can improve his confidence, his happiness."
He surprised many when he signed Falcao on loan from Monaco this summer
after the 29-year-old failed to impress at United last season.
The Colombia striker scored just four goals for United and was dropped to
the reserves by manager Louis van Gaal.
It was a very different record when he was at Atletico, where he scored 52
goals in 68 La Liga games between 2011 and 2013. He also scored a hat-trick
against Chelsea in the 2012 Uefa Super Cup final, confirming his place as
one of Europe's top strikers.
But he has not been the same player since suffering a serious knee injury
while he was at Monaco in January 2014.
Mourinho, however, who already regarded Falcao highly from his spell as
manager at Real Madrid, is convinced he can help the forward re-find his
attacking flair and said he had no hesitation in giving him a second chance
in English football.
He doesn't see Falcao as a back-up to Diego Costa, who made such an impact
on the Premier League after joining Chelsea last summer.
"He can be second, first or third [choice]," Mourinho said: "He knows, Diego
knows and [Loïc] Remy knows that. It is open competition between the three
of them. That's our objective, that’s why we want three strikers ready and
important.
"If we want, we can play with Costa and him together - it is something they
did before when they were in Atletico. Can he be the Falcao of Atletico? We
believe so.
"Every team has their style of play and every manager has their way of
football. If Mr Van Gaal didn’t play him more it’s because he had his ideas
and we have to respect that."
Falcao will join his new team-mates on Tuesday on their pre-season tour of
North America, having been given extended time off after playing in the Copa
America, but will not play against New York Red Bulls on Thursday nor Paris
Saint-Germain on Saturday.
He said: "We are not expecting him to join us Tuesday and then play on
Saturday and score a hat-trick. But he has to be ready for the first league
game. Maybe not the Community Shield [against Arsenal on 2 August]. But
after two and a half weeks of training, he must be ready."
Mourinho added: "He is not happy that in England people think he is not as
good as he is and his motivation is there. He lost money to come to us; he
didn’t want to listen to other offers."
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