Louis van Gaal has displayed a growing impatience with injured striker Radamel Falcao, saying he is not interested if the Colombia star has become frustrated over his slow return to fitness for Manchester United, and telling him to follow orders.
Asked if Falcao is frustrated over his lack of progress, Van Gaal brushed aside the question saying: ‘I’m not interested. He has to follow my philosophy. Do you understand that? Yeah, I’m here because of that.’
Falcao has yet to complete 90 minutes since joining United on a one-season loan from Monaco in the summer, and is running out of time to convince the club to sign him permanently in a deal worth a total of £52million.
The 28-year-old earns £280,000 a week at Old Trafford, but has so far made just seven appearances — four of them as a substitute — and scored one goal.
Falcao moved to United after recuperating from a serious knee injury that kept him out of last summer’s World Cup, and has recently spent six weeks on the sidelines with a calf problem.
Van Gaal insists the former Porto and Atletico Madrid striker cannot currently play for more than 20 minutes and has used him off the bench in the last two games, preferring to put teenager James Wilson in the starting line-up against Stoke in midweek when Wayne Rooney was out with a knee injury.
