Fans of the Barclay’s Premier League have quickly become familiar with the names Diego Costa and Radamel Falcao, known simply as Falcao. With Costa signing to join The Blues last summer and Falcao joining Manchester United on loan a few months later, English football inherited two of the best strikers in the world. Costa scored on his Chelsea debut while Falcoa netted his first Man U goal in a crucial 2-1 victory over Everton. While Costa is Spanish and Falcao is Colombian, there is one major similarity between these two talented goal scorers.
They both came from La Liga club Atletico Madrid.
In the 2011-12 season it was Falcao who was “The Man” at Atletico. Costa had suffered a knee injury over the summer and was sent to a team at the bottom the table, Rayo Vallencano. While Falcoa was putting on a show at Atletico, Costa was also impressing with his quick return. The Spaniard helped the Rayo escape relegation by netting 10 goals in the second half of the season.
After his performance on-loan, Costa was welcomed back by Atletico and joined Falcoa on the first team for the 2012-13 season. Despite his impressive loan spell, it was still Falcao who called the shots at Atletico.
Throughout the season Costa gradually earned himself more minutes, but as an outside forward instead of the treasured target spot, held by Falcao. As the season wore on, Costa soon became just as big of a scoring threat as his counterpart. By the end of the season, Costa looked primed to take the spotlight as Falcao left Atletico to join AS Monaco FC.
The next season, Costa emerged as Atletico’s most dangerous player and led the club to the European Cup final as well as the La Liga title.
When it game time for Jose Mourinho to sign his marque goal-scorer for Chelsea, he went straight for Costa. Although Falcao has flash and a plethora of phenomenal finishes on his resume, Costa is a physical and hard-working forward that is durable and able to withstand the intense EPL season. As we now know, Mourinho mad the right decision on this pick.
Falcao hasn’t found the same success as Costa in the Barclay’s Premier League. After a decent run of playing time at the beginning of the season, he eventually found himself coming off the bench towards the end of 2014. It wasn’t until December when Falcao finally returned to the starting line-up, scoring a goal in United’s 1-1 tie with Aston Villa.
Falcao’s future in the Premier League is shaky at best. Over the January transfer window his manager said that the striker may or may not be with Manchester United next season. Having only scored four goals in 23 appearances for the Red Devils, he was dropped to the Under-21 team at the beginning of March.
Costa, on the other hand, has thrived at Stamford Bridge. After scoring nine goals in the first seven games of the EPL season, Costa has proven himself to be one of the best strikers in the world. Although he has been hindered by a nagging hamstring injury lately, Costa is still the premiere man for Mourinho and The Blues.
I would be hard pressed to say that Atletico has an impressive player development program, but they have provided the Premier League with quite a few notable names. Before Costa and Falcao there was Sergio Aguero, who is still with Manchester City. Another notable forward to come out of the club is Italian superstar Diego Forlan.
Southampton seems to be the “Go-To” development club lately, but if you’re looking for quality forwards in the Premier League, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to take a look at Atletico Madrid first.