French daily Le10 Sport is reporting that Chelsea has agreed to pay 80 million euros ($108.5 million) for AS Monaco striker Radamel Falcao during the January transferwindow. However, any move is contingent upon Blues striker Fernando Torres agreeing to move to the principality club as part of the deal.
Chelsea coach JoseMourinho is understood to be frustrated by the fact that just five of the Premier League giant’s 24 goals in the league this season have come from its striking quartet ofTorres, Demba Ba, Samuel Eto’o and Andre Schurrle. Falcao is also particularly attractive to Mourinho because he is not cup tied for the UEFA Champions League.The Colombian, who sat out of Monaco’s 2-0 win against Rennes on Saturday with a minor thigh problem, is joint top of the Ligue 1 scoring charts, having scored nine times in 14 appearances sofar this season.
Despite the report, Monaco sporting director VadimVasilyev insists that Falcao won’t leave in January, having only just arrived from Atletico Madrid last summer. “He’s very happy here,” Vasilyev told RMC. “He feels really good inMonaco. Actually, we dined with him, his wife and the president a few days ago and he loves the club, the city. So there’s no problem and he won’t leave in January. That’s certain.”