Real Madrid Transfer News: Carlo Ancelotti Right to Ignore Radamel Falcao Swoop

A late drama to come about in the transfer window saw Real Madrid pass on the opportunity to sign Radamel Falcao, the Monaco striker instead joining Manchester United on loan.

Such a gifted player would be seen as a major loss at first glance, but considering the assets already under Carlo Ancelotti's command, it would have been a luxury of the highest order.

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Indeed, it's a luxury for the Red Devils, too, but Louis van Gaal at least helped in justifying the move by selling Danny Welbeck to Arsenal for £16 million, Javier Hernandez also heading out, on loan to Real no less.

And with Karim Benzema having just penned a new five-year contract, the current setup is one that makes more sense. Los Blancos president Florentino Perez is quoted by the Associated Press (h/t The Guardian) in detailing why the move never came to fruition:

"We considered signing Falcao. But in this club we follow a sporting-economic equation which [the former club president Santiago] Bernabeu taught us, and we decided not to do so. The coach’s opinion was also important in us turning it down."

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In the wake of selling Angel Di Maria to United for £59.7 million, it's good to see that Real still have a portion of their transfer strategy dedicated to ensuring the economical sanctity of things. 

Financial Fair Play is beginning to have its desired impact in limiting the spending of Europe's giants, and Falcao's is a deal that would have taken vast sums of money to engineer.

South American football writer Tariq Panja cites The Guardian's Sid Lowe as saying super agent Jorge Mendes, who boasts Falcao among his array of clients, also had a heavy hand in the collapse:

Aside from any financial connotations, however, it would have been difficult to understand the Colombian's arrival from a footballing perspective, never mind those extra zeroes added to the wage bill.

Ben Jefferson of the Express reported that Louis van Gaal's side are paying Falcao a wage of £350,000-a-week for his season's service at Old Trafford, equating to £184,000-a-week after tax.

But as aforementioned, that would have been a secondary concern. It seems the powerhouses of Europe grow more unfamiliar with being content in the modern game, always feeling a pressure to improve and add more.

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It would perhaps be unfair to term it as greed, but in rejecting the chance to sign Falcao, Ancelotti will have imbued a new confidence in Benzema, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale of course also likely to provide their regular threats on goal.

Dermot Corrigan of ESPN FC offers some praise to Benzema, noting that his style is well-suited to the Spanish style of play:

Granted, having Hernandez as backup to the Frenchman isn't an ideal circumstance, the Mexican having struggled for form in the past two seasons and failing to truly fit in at Old Trafford.

However uncomfortable the current disposition might be, though, one can bet a juggling act between Benzema and Falcao would be just as troublesome for the manager.

After all, this is a striker who has just led Los Merengues to Champions League glory, at least in the most metaphysical meaning of the word. Benzema scored 17 goals in 35 league appearances as Real's senior striker last term, per Squawka, by no means a paltry number.

What's perhaps more enamouring, though, is the 63 scoring chances he created, a dimension Falcao doesn't offer in as high a potency and one that's crucial to Real at present.

Possessing players like Ronaldo and Bale is tremendous, but those stars perform better when play is catered to their paradigm, and Falcao would have gleaned a necessary attention onto himself. The side would require change, and why should they do that?

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Instead, it seems Ancelotti has chosen to strengthen in other areas and go about improving the current theme, polishing the machine that's of course showing such great potential already.

In another life, Falcao may have came back to the Spanish capital and bring unbridled success, just as he did with Atletico. However, he would have been an awfully expensive fix for something that's most certainly not broken.