Radamel Falcao wants to extend Manchester United stay
Radamel Falcao has expressed his desire to extend his stay at on-loan club Manchester United. The Colombian was signed on a year-long loan deal from his parent club AS Monaco in the summer.
Falcao has made 11 appearances for the English club, but has scored a solitary goal. Falcao has struggled with injury and has not had the prolific return that he has at other clubs and so he will have to do something extraordinary for the rest of the season to convince Manchester United to exercise their option of buying the striker outright from Monaco for a fee of £43.5 million.
He said, "I am very happy in this city, in this club and I am enjoying it here. I really want to stay. From my point of view, I'd like to carry on but obviously I have to analyse the situation, see if I play more and see what decision the board takes."
“I will be ready whenever given the opportunity”
Falcao is not disheartened by the fact that he hasn’t played as much as he had liked. "Every footballer wants to play, no one is happy when they are not playing, when they are on the bench, but whenever I am given the opportunity, whether it be for 5, 10, 20 or 90 minutes, I have to give my best," he said.
"I feel ready for the moment that the team needs me. Whenever I have the opportunity to come on I try to do my best for the coach and I try to help the team.
"He has a philosophy that I respect. I have had an injury, and I have had to wait for the opportunity to play. I am not playing many minutes at the moment but I am sure that there will more opportunities to play.
The 28-year-old said that he is fit now and knows that the competition for places is extremely high at the club. "I'm almost at 100 per cent now, let's see wait and see what the decision of the coach is, when he wants to use me more," he said.
He continued, "We have a group of strikers who are very good and that's good for everyone. That means there is always a level of competition between us, healthy competition, and obviously I am very happy with how the team is doing."