Premier League: Where will Falcao fit in at Man United?

Radamel Falcao is poised to walk away from Champions League football for the second summer in succession

Michael Lintorn wonders if Radamel Falcao will succeed Fernando Torres as the Premier League's best-paid benchwarmer...

Betting.Betfair recently got a calculator and compass out to suss how Man United would fit Angel Di Maria into an attack already boasting Wayne Rooney, Robin van Persie and Juan Mata. Now, Louis van Gaal is making the equation even trickier by recruiting Radamel Falcao on a season-long loan.

It is easy to see why the Dutchman was tempted by a forward who scored 24 goals or more in both La Liga campaigns with (pre-title challenging) Atletico Madrid and who netted 34-plus times in all competitions in each of his four seasons in Europe before an injury-hit first term at Monaco.

Though the Colombian has yet to definitively prove that he is over the anterior cruciate ligament damage that forced him out of the World Cup, a BBC-reported 6 million loan fee will be judged a bargain if he fires them into the Champions League, as he did Monaco and Atletico previously.

The issue is that Man United already have two prolific strikers - the Premier League top scorer fifth and sixth favourites Rooney 18.5n/a and van Persie 25.024/1 (Falcao is shorter than both at 16.5n/a) - while they remain light either number or quality-wise at centre back, wing back and central midfield.

As van Gaal has spent all summer bemoaning his imbalanced squad of "five number nines and six number tens", it seems incongruous that he has reportedly passed up on Cesc Fabregas, Arturo Vidal and William Carvalho and accepted defeat over Nigel de Jong whilst adding to his frontline.

The Daley Blind deal should at least go through before the deadline and one conclusion that can be drawn quite confidently is that Man United will persevere with two up top despite an uncertain start, as leaving two of Rooney, van Persie and Falcao on the bench would be too wasteful.

As for the question of who misses out, it has been suggested that Rooney might play behind van Persie and Falcao, with Mata presumably sidelined, but van Gaal has been so insistent that he views his captain as a striker that such relocation appears unlikely.

Rooney was given the armband because he is seen as a regular starter, so it will be down to RVP and Falcao to compete for the second spot, their respective injury issues perhaps convincing the coach that there will be enough minutes to share around regardless of the European football vacuum.

If the former Arsenal man can stay fit and produce form that renders him undroppable - as van Gaal found as Netherlands boss - it is possible that Falcao, who cost 85 million in combined transfer fees in the past three summers alone, will be used primarily as a substitute at a non-Champions League club.

Man United are 2.226/5 for a top-four finish, while they are 11.5n/a to be the top-scoring Premier League team.