Manchester United have signed Radamel Falcao on loan for the full season from French club Monaco, and while the player’s quality up front is undoubted, is he the man who is really needed at Old Trafford, or have the club made a panic buy to put the smiles back on the supporters’ faces?

Falcao is one of Europe’s finest strikers, plying his trade at Monaco, and the continent’s elite clubs have been fighting it out for his signature for some time. While his name was always on the radar of the biggest clubs, the Colombian made a big impression on Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich when he scored a hat-trick against Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup final before the start of the 2012-13 season and many thought he would end up in West London. However, most surprisingly Falcao chose to join French side Monaco and then an injury kept Falcao out of the World Cup in Brazil, as Chelsea decided to sign Diego Costa instead. Manchester City were apparently offered Falcao but chose not to pursue the deal sticking with the threesome of Aguero, Dzeko and Jovetic as they also let Negredo go to Valencia. United then stepped in as Lois van Gaal is clearly stamping his mark on the side. The knock-on effect of this deal is perhaps that it allowed Arsenal to buy Danny Welbeck from United – if indeed the deal goes through as it should at the time of writing (00:42 2/9/14), according to SkySportsNewsHQ.

United already have the likes of Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and Angel di Maria in the attacking third, and with Juan Mata signing for the Red Devils only to avoid sitting on the bench at Chelsea, just who will not play in the side? Playing all the above mentioned players together in a starting eleven is not practical, and would ruin the balance of the side. The belief among United supporters is that the club needed new central defenders to replace Ferdinand and Vidic, and not play makeshift defenders in the same position.