Roman £45m Falcao bid

HE'S RAD ... Chelsea are lining up a bid for Falcao

CHELSEA are plotting a £45million swoop for Colombian superstar Radamel Falcao.

Preliminary discussions have already taken place about a January move for the Atletico Madrid goal machine.
And Blues owner Roman Abramovich has given the green light to a formal bid after watching Falcao destroy his team in last month’s UEFA Super Cup.

The European champions now believe they cannot achieve their ambitions with Fernando Torres as their only front-line striker.

And they are already holding internal talks to work out the best way of being first in the queue for Falcao when the transfer window reopens in January.

A Chelsea source admitted: “The groundwork is already being done for Falcao.
“The owner wants everything in place now so a deal can be done before any other club can make a counter-offer.”

Falcao, 26, has scored an astonishing 115 goals in just three years in European football, including a Monaco hat-trick against Chelsea in the Super Cup.

Atletico paid £32million to sign him from Porto only last summer, but up to half of that fee is believed to have been provided by a third party investment fund which includes the player’s representative Jorge Mendes.