United to pay Falcao silly money - reports

Monaco, as well as the Grand Prix and the casinos, is famous for its lack of taxes. This is because poor people are not allowed into the principality -- they're shot at the border -- and so there's none of that conversion-of-money-into-roads-and-hospitals business. If taxes are the price we pay for a civilised society, then Monaco is a haven of very, very exclusive barbarism.

What this means for football is that buying a player from Monaco can be awkward, since any non-tax haven country has to either pay well above their usual rates to match the eventual salary, or the player in question has to take a pay cut. The end result is ... well, something like the following:

Radamel Falcao's season-long loan to Manchester United will cost the Old Trafford club a staggering £24 million, with the forward's £346,000-a-week Monaco salary being paid in full by United.

That's according to the Telegraph's Mark Ogden, who is normally pretty well-connected on these things. And while tBB would normally be quite perturbed by the silliness of it all, we've decided we're relaxed about this one. Because it's almost certain to really irritate Wayne Rooney. And that's a good a use of money as we can think of.