Player Focus: Falcao (Atletico Madrid)

When Radamel Falcao made the trip across the Iberian Peninsula from Porto to Atlético Madrid for some €40m in the summer many an eyebrow was raised.

Why would a player who had starred as the Portuguese side stormed to four trophies and on a personal level broke a European record by scoring 17 goals in 14 Europa League games last season decide that a side not in the Champions League should be the next run of his career ladder?

Nine months on and the suspected plan - that he should show his value at a higher level by playing in La Liga before being sold on for a price in excess of that €40m price tag - seems to be going perfectly.

The Colombian scored his 20th league goal in just 26 games this season as Atleti swept aside Getafe on Sunday. Throw in another seven in 11 games in the Europa League and the 26-year-old could yet still match the 39 he notched in all competitions last season.

Twenty goals at this stage of the league campaign is an impressive enough stat as it is, indeed enough to make him joint third with Gonzalo Higuain behind the World's two best players in the two-horse race for the Pichichi. However, it is Atleti's reliance on him to score in a season that has gone far from swimmingly that makes his haul even more exceptional.

Diego Simeone's side have scored just 40 times (42 including own goals) in 30 league games, meaning Falcao's total accounts for 50% of his team's total. That figure rises even further to 57% when you discount the five goals scored by Los Colchoneros in the four games he hasn't played.

To put that in some perspective Lionel Messi's 36 strikes mean he has contributed 43% of Barca's tally and Cristiano Ronaldo has 37 of Real Madrid's amazing 100 goals in 30 games.

And yet, those that fill the stands at the Vicente Calderón haven't always been delighted with their record signing's performances this season.

To the outsider that seems extremely harsh, but there is some merit in their argument. For a start, as important as they are to put away, five of his league goals have come from the penalty spot. Secondly, his link-up play hasn't been great. A return of just one assist is accompanied by a poor rate of turnovers (2) and dispossessions (2.9) per game.

Even here, however, there is a caveat. As the goal records of both Falcao and the rest of the team indicates, he has often been isolated in attack and these numbers can also be put into perspective by Messi (1.8 and 2.8) and Ronaldo's (2.2 and 2) numbers in the same categories.

Another area where the Colombian's performances haven't quite hit the levels expected of him is in aerial duels where he has only won 1.6 per game despite arriving with a reputation as one of the best headers of the ball in Europe. Again though, this could say more about Atleti's style of play as their midfield consists of creative ball-players like Diego and Arda Turan more akin to playing through-balls than wingers swinging crosses into the box.

There is also a direct correlation in the disparity between Atleti and Falcao's performances at home and on the road. Away form is the reason that Simeone's men are currently only in seventh position with just 11 of their 42 points having been collected away from the Calderon. Similarly only six of Falcao's 20 league goals have come away from home and as a result his Whoscored average rating falls from 7.77 to 6.58 when playing on the road.

This combination of factors goes to explain why the league's most expensive signing last summer is rated as only the 21st best player in WhoScored's La Liga Player Statistics and only sixth behind teammate Gabi, Santi Cazorla, Bruno, Jeremy Toulalan and Jesus Navas from those outside the top two.

However, it is hard to argue that he hasn’t done what he was signed to do - put the ball in the net.

Unfortunately for Atleti fans, who have seen a number of top strikers leave over the past few years, the result may be that Falcao's stay in the red and white half of the Spanish capital is a fleeting one.