Radamel Falcao: Best Striker In The World?

There are many types of forwards in modern football; those who pose an aerial threat, the creative dribblers or even the traditional number 9. Many believe that the best out-and-out striker in world football is Radamel Falcao Garcia Zarate. Sometimes we try and make excuses for forwards when they don€™t score goals. We argue that they €˜track back€™ or that €˜they hold-up the ball€™ but what every supporter wants from their team€™s strikers is goals. With Falcao goals are his business, and business is good. Radamel was born in Santa Marta, Magdalena in the Caribbean region of Colombia. His father was a former footballer, who christened his son with the middle name Falcao, after the famous Brazilian defender. From his early years at Millonarios, the young striker showed potential with a deadly finish. Whilst playing for the Colombian Under-17s, one of the giants of Argentinian football, River Plate, recruited him to their famous youth academy. He debuted for the first team in 2005 - only 19-years-old - and quickly made an impression with seven goals from his 11 appearances. His early career came to a grinding halt in 2006 when he tore his anterior cruciate ligaments, which put him out of action for some time. Falcao made sporadic returns but he struggled with fitness and he only managed three goals in 25 matches during the 06-07 season. Falcao made a wonderful return to form in the autumn of 2007 and that season he proved to be a top class forward. He helped La Banda reach the semi-final of the Copa Sudamericana €“ the South American version of the Europa League €“ with key goals in the final stages of the competition. At the end of the year he earned a prestigious place in the €˜XI of America€™ in an annual survey of South American journalists. On top of that Falcao also earned fifth place in the South American Player of the Year competition. His performances that year had earned him many plaudits and the bids began to roll in. The Colombian was sold to Porto for around £3 million €“ a bargain considering his later transfer fee €“ despite early interest from Benfica. He finished his debut season as the second top-scorer with 25 Primera League goals and 34 in all competitions. In 2010-11 Porto remained undefeated in the league as they celebrated a treble, which included the Europa League. Falcao scored the only goal in the final and throughout the competition he notched a record 17 goals in 14 appearances. In total he scored 38 in 42, which earned him a new contract with a buy-out clause of 45 million euros. Just one month after the announcement of his new contract Porto agreed a fee with Atletico Madrid, worth an estimated 40 million euros. He notched 24 goals in 34 league matches and a further 12 goals in all competitions. When Madrid won the Europa League against Athletic Bilbao it made Falcao the first to win two consecutive EL trophies with two different teams. The deadly striker is already on four for this La Liga season and Chelsea fans were silenced by a devastating hatrick in the Super Cup confrontation. El Tigre is in the prime of his career at 26-years-old and his future is at one of the major European teams. A survey of 53 sportswriters from the UEFA member nations found Falcao to be the fifth best player in Europe, which isn€™t surprising given that he€™s notched over 100 goals since his arrival in the continent three years ago. He is a predator forward with the ability to score from anywhere. There€™s no striker in the world that can boast the same versatility in front of goal as Falcao and you€™ll see him knocking them in from close range or producing glorious over-head kicks. Falcao has his weaknesses. He is very average when his back is towards goal and his link-up play is not particularly outstanding. That is obvious ignored considering his goals-to-game ratio. Ronaldo and Messi are in a league of their own - but they aren€™t out-and-out strikers - while forwards like Ibrahimovic and Rooney can have very patchy form. There are few strikers who have the same devastating touch and consistency as Falcao. There are many contenders for the best striker in the world, but few can even compete with El Tigre.