Falcao testing LVG’S patience
LOUIS VAN GAAL has displayed a growing impatience with injured striker Radamel Falcao, saying he is not interested if the Colombia star has become frustrated over his slow return to fitness for Manchester United and telling him to just follow orders.
Falcao has yet to complete 90 minutes since joining United on a one-season loan from Monaco in the summer, and is running out of time to convince the club to sign him permanently in a deal worth a total of £52million.
The 28-year-old earns £280,000 a week at Old Trafford but has so far made just seven appearances — four of them as a substitute — and scored one goal.
Falcao moved to United after recuperating from a serious knee injury that kept him out of last summer’s World Cup, and has recently spent six weeks on the sidelines with a calf problem.
Van Gaal insists the former Porto and Atletico Madrid striker cannot currently play for more than 20 minutes and has used him off the bench in the last two games, preferring to put teenager James Wilson in the starting line-up against Stoke in midweek when Wayne Rooney was out with a knee injury.
Rooney is expected to return alongside Robin van Persie in attack at Southampton tonight.
Asked if Falcao is frustrated over his lack of progress, Van Gaal brushed aside the question saying: ‘I’m not interested. He has to follow my philosophy. Do you understand that? Yeah, I’m here because of that.’
The United boss indicated that he would rather have seen Falcao train more or play for the reserves than sit on the bench against Hull and Stoke, but his hand was forced by the injuries to Wilson and Rooney.
‘A bigger contribution is to play in the second team for 45 or 60 minutes or even 90 minutes,’ said Van Gaal. ‘But I couldn’t do that because I needed him when Rooney was injured (for Stoke) and Wilson was injured ( for Hull). I selected him in spite of the fact he can only play 20 minutes at this level because the rhythm of the game in the Premier League is the highest.’ United can move above Southampton and West Ham into third place in the table if they extend their four-match winning run at St Mary’s.
Saints boss Ronald Koeman has offered a hand of friendship to Van Gaal by backing his fellow countryman to restore Manchester United to the glories their fans once took for granted. Koeman and Van Gaal have been at each other’s throats since a spectacular fall-out when the Dutchmen were manager and sporting director at Ajax in 2004. But this is the season of goodwill and Koeman appears ready to end the decade-long conflict.
‘ He’s a great coach,’ said Koeman of his one-time mentor. ‘He needs time and he will get it at United. The manager has a lot of experience and they have the money to buy the best players so of course they will be challengers.’ When pressed on their relationship, Koeman did admit: ‘I don’t say it is good; it’s correct and that’s the best word. What happened before was a working problem and I have to explain it like that.
‘It’s not an issue because it is eight or nine years ago.’