• Premier League

Falcao denied British passport despite Yorkshire roots

ESPN staff
October 16, 2014
Radamel Falcao has over 50 caps for Colombia © Getty Images
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Radamel Falcao's great-grandfather was a Yorkshireman who emigrated to Colombia and was murdered by thieves.

The Manchester United striker, who joined the club on a season-long loan on the final day of the transfer window, has roots less than 100 miles from Old Trafford - but was denied the British passport that would have allowed him to play for England.

"I'm proud of my English blood," Falcao's father, also named Radamel, told the Daily Mail. "My grandfather was English and also a sportsman."

When Falcao, who has played for Porto, Atletico Madrid and Monaco, was a teenager, his father made an unsuccessful attempt to get him a British passport as part of a proposed transfer to River Plate.

"He was probably about 13 so I went down to the embassy thinking that a British passport would help him with a move to Europe," Falcao Sr. said. "Unfortunately it got rejected."

George King, Falcao's ancestor and a keen golfer, was an accountant who left England for Colombia in 1932 to work for the United Fruit Company.

He was widowed when his wife died in childbirth and remarried to a Colombian, Juliana, and had five children, including the £48 million footballer's grandmother, Denis.

However, King's time in Colombia came to a tragic end when his company was closing down its operations and he was charged with distributing the finances to sort it out.

His daughter Denis said: "They gave him the money to sort out, but as he was leaving he was murdered by people who stole the money."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd
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