MANCHESTER UNITED STRIKER Radamel Falcao, who appeared set to join Real Madrid this summer before moving to Old Trafford, has talked candidly about the limited choices on offer to footballers.

The attacker was highly coveted before he joined Monaco from Atletico Madrid before an injury ruled him out of the second half of the 2013-14 season and the World Cup. The Colombia international was heavily linked to a move to the Santiago Bernabeu in the summer and it was largely reported that he was aiming for a return to the Spanish capital.

However, he ended up joining United on loan and the terms on a €56 million deal which will make it permanent, should he prove his fitness, have already been agreed.

Falcao, though, has refuted the idea that footballers can choose to go wherever they want and admitted that he has previously wanted to join one club, only to end up elsewhere.

Asked by Libero whether a footballer is in charge of his own destiny, he replied: “No, he’s not. Sometimes I smile when people ask me why I didn’t go here or why I didn’t stay there, as if the footballer can choose where to work.

“I would say to some journalists, ‘Why don’t you work at CNN or ESPN?’. It’s the same as in football. You very rarely have the opportunities to go to one team or another. I have been in situations where I have not been able to do what I wanted, many times.

“I want to go to one place and in the end I have to go to another.”

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