Radamel Falcao makes his return to LaLiga with Rayo Vallecano. The newcomer to Spain’s top division announces through official channels that the 35-year-old attacker has signed a contract. According to reports in Spain, it is a one-year contract with an option for another year. Falcao reached an earlier agreement with Galatasaray to dissolve his one-year-long contract. Rayo has three points left in the first three competition matches.
Partly due to injuries, Falcao only made 42 official duels in his first two years for Galatasaray. In it, the Colombian, who earned five million euros a year, was good for twenty hits. Both parties were open to ending the collaboration early, partly because Falcao was looking for a (new) contract for at least two seasons with a view to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Rayo Vallecano was aware of Falcao’s desire to return to Spain. The Madrid club also had an advantage over other clubs with an interest. The Colombian and his family had a good time in the Spanish capital when he wore the Atlético Madrid uniform between 2011 and 2013. It is obvious that Falcao has been satisfied with a significantly lower salary in Vallecas.
Falcao ran almost one-on-one at FC Porto and Atlético: 72 goals in 87 official matches for the top club from Portugal and 70 goals in 91 official matches for the Spaniards. A transfer to an absolute top club was in the making, but surprisingly he went to AS Monaco in the summer of 2013 for sixty million euros. The Colombian, who went on to earn no less than fourteen million euros, was seriously injured in January 2014 and therefore had to miss the World Cup in Brazil later that year.
AS Monaco loaned Falcao to Manchester United and Chelsea in successive seasons, but that was not an unqualified success at both Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge. In his last three seasons in the principality, however, Falcao was back to normal, with 70 goals in 118 games in all competitions. The 91-time international then made the transfer to Turkey free of charge.
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