Explaining Radamel Falcao's move to Monaco

There was widespread speculation in the past few weeks about Radamel Falcao being linked to some of the big names in the Premier League, including Chelsea and Manchester United and even Spanish giants Real Madrid.

However, all the rumours seem to have been put to rest as reports have come in that the 27-year-old Colombian is destined for Monaco. This has certainly raised some questions as to why the Atletico Madrid star would end up moving to Monaco.

The answer to this question is the confusing and complex third-party ownership involved with the Colombian international. It is believed that even Hulk was involved in such a kind of partnership when he moved to Zenit. Same was the case with Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano when both Argentine players joined West Ham United, and West Ham ended up paying a compensation of £18M to Sheffield United, and it also led the FA to ban the third party ownership.

However, third party ownership is still believed to be alive outside England. The investment companies own the player of a particular club, pay him a larger salary in addition to his club salary, move the player to bigger clubs, and sell him to the highest bidders to get the investment back.

Falcao’s 55% transfer rights were bought by a third-party ownership group as part of his transfer to Porto. The company paid his salary at Porto, moved him to Atletico Madrid for better exposure, and eventually started working on the biggest possible moves for the player which would see them cash in.

With all the above factors in mind, it turns out that Falcao has no say in where he would want to play, due to a deal to which he agreed a few years ago. Out of all the clubs interested in Falcao, there is only one club who appear to be eager to pay €60M to the investors – AS Monaco FC.