Manchester United transfer news: Club 'decided against buying £43.2m Radamel Falcao after Preston performance' - reports

L'Equipe report that the decision was made after dreadful performance

(Getty Images)

Manchester United made the decision not to buy Radamel Falcao this summer after he was hauled off just an hour into the FA Cup game at Preston North End, according to a report in France.

Respected newspaper L'Equipe report this morning that United opted not to take up his €55million option to buy in the summer after his poor performance at Deepdale on 16 February.

United were 1-0 down to the League 1 club when Louis van Gaal replaced Falcao with Ashley Young, sparking a comeback that ended in a 3-1 win.

Falcao lasted just an hour against League 1 Preston (Getty Images)

Falcao won a penalty against Sunderland but he has just four goals (Getty Images)

The paper reports that the club hierarchy were stunned as he struggled against opposition playing two tiers below the Premier League.

The Colombian striker has failed to fire since his arrival at Old Trafford on deadline day last summer, scoring just four goals and adding four assists in 20 matches.

Falcao started against Sunderland, in the absence of Robin van Persie, but was largely anonymous before winning the penalty that saw Wes Brown wrongly sent off instead of John O'Shea.

Despite his billing as one of the best strikers in Europe, Falcao has looked out of sorts this season and still seems to be recovering from the knee injury that kept him out of the World Cup.

Between arriving in Europe and suffering the injury last January he had scored 153 goals in 200 matches for Porto, Atletico Madrid and Monaco, winning six major trophies.