Louis van Gaal is like the devil for his treatment of Radamel Falcao, says Diego Maradona

Falcao has started just 12 league matches, scoring four times, since completing a big-money loan move to Old Trafford from Monaco last summer. With the Colombia star’s future at the club looking increasingly uncertain, Maradona has offered his thoughts on Falcao’s situation at United after pointing to Van Gaal as the reason for the striker’s lack of success in England.

Speaking ahead of his appearance in a ‘pro-peace game’ in Colombia, Maradona said: ‘Van Gaal is not a cool guy. He is closer to the devil than anything else. ‘The World Cup was great and I think everyone felt Colombian at least for a while, when James [Rodriguez] or [Juan] Cuadrado had the ball. ‘If Falcao was there, Colombia may be celebrating their first WC glory.’ He added: ‘Falcao was conditioned due to his severe injury. Moving from France to England was tough and he needed to adapt himself.’