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Falcao preferred us over United, says Juventus chief

ESPN staff
October 27, 2014
Radamel Falcao has scored one goal in five appearances since moving to Manchester United © Getty Images
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Juventus managing director Giuseppe Marotta says the Italian champions were on the verge of signing Radamel Falcao before Manchester United stepped in with more money.

Time to man up

Louis van Gaal was happy with a point against Chelsea - but should he be? © Getty Images
  • Manchester United need to stop acting like underdogs and start playing like the financial and sporting behemoth they are, writes ESPN's Alan Tyers.
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Falcao put pen to paper at Old Trafford on the final day of the summer transfer window in a season-long loan deal from Monaco. The Colombia international commanded a loan fee of £6 million while his salary is reported to take the cost of his spell at United close to £20m.

But Marotta said Falcao, who sat out of United's draw with Chelsea on Sunday, preferred the idea of a move to Serie A.

"We were following him and there was contact," Marotta told RAI. "We were very close to [signing] Falcao and the player preferred Italy and our colours, but then United came forward and they have much more spending power than we do so the deal broke down."

Marotta accepted that Italian clubs now struggle to attract the top players in the world, adding: "The quality of our league has fallen behind. Serie A used to be the league everybody strived to play in, but it's no longer like that today. The best players want to play abroad."

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  • *All odds correct at time of publishing.

Falcao has only scored one goal in five games for United and missed Sunday's 1-1 draw against Chelsea with a minor injury.

Without Falcao, Juventus have made a superb start to the season, winning seven of their eight Serie A games while their former United striker Carlos Tevez is the division's six-goal second-highest scorer.

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