Falcao would have been better off with Fergie

Radamel Falcao’s agent has claimed that his client would have been better off playing under Sir Alex Ferguson than other Louis Van Gaal, adding that the former United manager would have been able to get the most out of him.

Having criticised Van Gaal for omitting Falcao from the squad for the game against Southampton, Jorge Mendes has now gone a step further by insinuating that the former Atletico Madrid striker would have had a much bigger impact had he joined United when Ferguson was still in charge.

“I would have liked it if Falcao was with Sir Alex Ferguson,” he told Spanish broadcaster La Sexta. “He is a player who needs to play 90 minutes and I don’t understand (why he isn’t).”

Mendes, however, ruled out a switch to Real Madrid next season.

“Falcao will play for one of the seven best in the world next,” he said. “But Real Madrid have Benzema.”

Mendes’ concerns were echoed by former United striker Diego Forlan, who suggested Falcao could have benefited from working under Ferguson.

“Without ever getting back to becoming a regular starter with Monaco he moved to a new country to join a new club with a new manager who also has to prove himself in a way Alex Ferguson never did,” Forlan wrote in his column for The National.

“He had to fit in with alongside several other new players using more than one system – though as a leading striker it doesn’t really affect you if it’s 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 or 3-5-2.”

Forlan added that Falcao has struggled to assert his influence on the team, because of the competition surrounding him.

“He’d been the main striker at River, Porto, Atletico and Monaco. At United he is in competition with big names like Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie, plus other strikers, the hungry youngsters like James Wilson,” the former United striker wrote.

“His other problem is that he has gone from being a striker who plays every game to one who has played only 14 times in five months – and started only eight games (nine after Cambridge).

“With no European football, United’s infrequent matches haven’t helped, so Falcao has started, on average, once every three weeks.

“Whatever the reasons, that’s not enough. Nowhere near.”