The future looked so bright for Columbia's star man Radamel Falcao. A growing reputation world-wide who had been plying his trade at Atletico Madrid looked set to become one of the many star strikers from the Spanish club. There is no wonder then, that he had been attracting some of the best teams in Europe bidding to attract his signature, including Chelsea and Manchester City, both of whom have been trying to bolster their attacking prowess.

Monaco were the lucky team to acquire his services, having forked out £53million to achieve this feat, however reports by Eurosport have reported that Falcao has had far from an easy start to his time at the Ligue 1 club. Starting with a pitiful performance in his first match - a pre-season friendly - he received a yellow card, and kicked the ball into the crowd in just the first half, resulting in a substitution at the break. However, it is not this that has caught the widespread attention, but more so the rumours alleging that the Colombian is not 27 as he says he is, but instead 29.

Primary school documents have been the basis of these developments, indicating a boy believed to be Falcao at school, however the maths would indicate he is indeed older than he said he was.

This could serve to appease both Chelsea and Manchester City fans, who were looking to sign this talented forward. Whether they would have been as willing to fork out such a substantial amount for a player at 29 is yet unknown. Two years makes a world of difference in football, and at 29 a player may have already reached his peak, while on the contrary at 27, their peak years are firmly in front of them.

Only the future will prove to us how effective Falcao is. He has shone for the past few seasons at Atletico Madrid and clearly possesses plenty of class on the field, however whether the past week will influence his performances, or people's perceptions of the striker, time will only tell.

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