Radamel Falcao joins Chelsea: Blues announce season-long loan of former Manchester United and Atletico Madrid striker

Chelsea have confirmed the season-long loan for Radamel Falcao, with the Monaco striker making a swift return to the Premier League following his dismal spell with Manchester United.

Falcao was a deadline day signing for United last summer, but despite his high-profile arrival exciting fans not just of the Manchester club but of the Premier League as a whole, he only served to disappoint after scoring four goals in 2014/15.

Untied chose not to take up a £43.2m clause in his contract that would have seen the loan move made permanent, but it soon emerged that Chelsea were considering making a shock move for the Colombia striker.

The Blues confirmed the news on Friday afternoon, and Falcao admitted he is “very happy” to have signed for Jose Mourinho’s side and has set his sights on winning his first Premier League title.

“I am very happy to be joining Chelsea and can't wait to start training and help with our aim of retaining the league title and being successful in Europe,” Falcao said on chelseafc.com.

Having suffered a serious knee injury that kept him out of the 2014 World Cup, Falcao returned to action in the pre-season for 2014/14, scoring for Monaco against Arsenal in the Emirates Cup.

Two goals in three games suggested that he was regaining full fitness, and United mounted a deadline day deal to sign him in September 2014, but the move proved to be a disappointing one as he scored just four times in all competitions for Louis van Gaal's side.

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Having received the news that United would not be signing him permanently, Falcao led his Colombia into the Copa America tournament, where the World Cup quarter-finalists only made the same stage where they were knocked out by Argentina. He failed to score in any of their four matches, though found the net with his penalty in the shootout defeat to their South American rivals.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho appeared to confirm his interest in Falcao earlier this summer, when he admitted the would love the chance to bring the "real Falcao" to the Premier League, perhaps in a taunt to his old rival Van Gaal that he can get the best out of the forward where the Dutchman could not.

"If I can help Falcao reach his level again, I will do it," Mourinho told South American TV.

"It hurts me that people in England think that the real Falcao is the one we saw at Manchester United."

Falcao will joins up with the rest of the Chelsea squad on 19 July in Montreal, where the club's pre-season tour will get underway four days earlier, due to his current holiday that he is being afforded after Copa America duty.

He'll find himself in familiar surroundings however, given that he played alongside Thibaut Courtois, Filipe Luis and Diego Costa at Atletico Madrid, while his international colleague Juan Cuadrado looks set to remain at Stamford Bridge despite links with a move back to mainland Europe.