Why 10 Goals Is a Realistic Aim for Chelsea's Radamel Falcao in 2015/16 Season
Jose Mourinho says he's happy with Radamel Falcao.
The Colombian is one of just two new signings at Chelsea this summer. Despite not scoring a goal from open play in his four pre-season outings, the manager is confident he'll produce for the Premier League champions.
"He's very good for the situation," Mourinho explained after Wednesday's 1-0 defeat to Fiorentina.
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That game meant Chelsea will enter the new Premier League campaign without a win to their name in pre-season, but Mourinho doesn't seem concerned.
Falcao has offered little by way of an attacking threat in that time, too.
"He's played in the America Cup [Copa America], been on holiday and has had only one week of training—not the three that the others have had," he continued.
"Today I took him off in his best moment. It was exactly when he was in his best moment in the game. I am happy with the evolution. Very happy to be fair."
Either Mourinho's standards have dropped significantly or he's seeing things that we're not.
The manager's assessment on Falcao's fitness is a valid point, although his unconvincing pre-season has only acted to confirm the fears that his powers have waned significantly.
It was three years ago in the Super Cup that Falcao tormented Chelsea's defence, scoring a hat-trick to well and truly humble the then-European champions in a 4-1 win for Atletico Madrid.
That season he would score 34 goals in all competitions for his club.
That was then and this is now. Falcao hasn't been anywhere near as lethal since. Indeed, he's more a mouse than the tiger for which he has often drawn comparisons.
In fact, the combined tally for his past two seasons have seen Falcao score less than half the goals he did in 2012/13, totalling just 15 for Monaco and Manchester United.
A knee injury suffered in early January 2014 curtailed Falcao's debut campaign in France. Come the turn of the year, he'd found the back of the net a respectable 11 times, but with that his season was over.
He missed the World Cup as a result, too.
John Terry and Gary Cahill may suggest otherwise given their praise of Falcao in recent weeks, but last season's spell at Old Trafford was as disastrous as it's been for Falcao.
He suffered for form and fitness, and the player we thought we knew just wasn't there. We could see the effort and desire hadn't disappeared, but Falcao's body was ruling the mind.
It's still very early into his Chelsea career, yet that same concern remains all too real. He's looked sluggish, lacking the same explosive qualities that made him such a threat.
Falcao adopted his El Tigre moniker for good reason—he was the ultimate predator, at the very top of the food chain, leaving opponents in pieces as he announced himself at the vital moment in matches.
Quiet, quiet, bang! Before teams knew it, Falcao was sprinting off to celebrate.
It took an incredible amount of skill to master that ability. The skill remains—we know that much, having seen it in flashes last term—though that knee injury from January 2014 still lingers.
Mourinho's confident he can get Falcao back to his best, but Chelsea fans must surely be fearing the worst having watched Fernando Torres struggle for form and goals in his three-and-a-half years at Stamford Bridge.
It was painful at times and Torres maintained the support of the crowd simply because of his billing. The will for him to succeed kept them believing.
The intent was there; however, the injuries and setbacks had taken their toll on a once-fine player. In the end it was almost a relief to see Torres leave, bringing the curtain down on his torture.
Torres went from scoring 38, 17 and 22 goals in his three full seasons as a Liverpool player to barely registering double figures at Chelsea.
The highlight came in 2012/13 when Chelsea's journey to the Europa League final saw him notch 23.
Torres hadn't turned the corner, however. That campaign proved an anomaly when goals were taken into account; the Spaniard following it up with 11 goals the next season.
For a back-up striker, it's a respectable return. For a striker costing £50 million, it's not the return Chelsea were expecting for their investment.
Which is where the comparison with Falcao is rather apt.
There have been the injuries in the past that have shackled a once-feared striker; there's been the false dawns that he may well return to his best.
What we're left with now, though, for both Torres and Falcao, is the realisation that their time among the elite is long since over.
Torres is performing back-up duties back at his boyhood club Atletico Madrid, while Falcao's best hope is for loan moves as he's too much of a gamble to sign permanently.
With a fully fit squad, Mourinho will surely opt for Diego Costa ahead of Falcao this season. He has to.
Despite missing so much of Chelsea's title-winning campaign last year, Costa was the lynchpin for that success. His 20 goals in 26 Premier League games in 2014/15 was a staggering return, and without him there's a case to suggest Chelsea wouldn't have been champions.
Costa is the striker Mourinho craved in his first season back at Chelsea when he was forced to live off the scraps provided by Torres, Samuel Eto'o and Demba Ba.
The Spanish international has changed that, and suddenly Chelsea have a menace leading the line once more.
And if Falcao's the back-up—add to that his personal demons when it comes to fitness and form—his goals return is going to suffer.
He scored just four times for Manchester United last season and thus far hasn't shown us much to suggest he can improve on that.
We're not talking about the Falcao from three years ago. That player has long since abandoned us; the reality now is much different.
Like Torres, reaching double figures became acceptable as the bar was dropped so low.
Being realistic, it's all we can demand from Falcao. And if the Colombian can do the same, signing him might just be worth it.
Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes
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