Radamel Falcao has agreed to join Manchester United on loan, subject to medical and terms. The striker was poised to join Manchester City in a permanent deal, but reports from both the Guardian and the Mirror confirm that Louis Van Gaal has hijacked the deal.

On Sunday evening, Sky Sports journalist,Guillem Balague, reported that Radamel Falcao was close to joining Manchester City and was happy to move to the Etihad Stadium.

(Guillem Balague revealed the details of the Falcao/Negredo saga live on Sky Sports 5 on Sunday night)

Balague's comments echoed claims made by Tuttomercatoweb in Italy who reported Falcao had told his AS Monaco teammates that he will join Manchester City in a permanent deal on Monday.

However, both AS in Spain and Duncan Castles of the Sunday Times claim Louis Van Gaal's men have hijacked the Premier League champions move for the Colombian.

The 28-year-old played no part in Monaco's 1-1 draw with Lille on Saturday afternoon amid speculation that he is set to leave the Stade Louis II. Real Madrid, Juventus and Arsenal have all been linked with the Colombian, but recent reports suggest Manchester United is the striker's preferred destination.

Falcao released a tweet on Saturday evening confirming that he had joined Real Madrid, but the AS Monaco player quickly denied posting the social media message that read: ''Dream come true #halamadrid''

(Radamel Falcao deleted a tweet suggesting he had joined Real Madrid)

In a later post, the former Atlético Madrid player insisted that the first tweet was fake, saying: "I have to refute a story about a tweet I have not done and that is a photo montage."

Early reports suggested Real Madrid would use the £59.7m received from the sale of Ángel Di María to fund a move for Falcao, but El Confidencial later stated that Florentino Pérez was not interested in replacing Karim Benzema. However, Simon Mullock of the Daily Mirror also claimed that Manchester City were sounded out about signing the striker, but chose not to pursue the deal.

If 'El Tigre' had signed for Manchester City, Álvaro Negredo was expected to leave the club. The Spaniard is currently out of action with a broken metatarsal, but is attracting interest from Valencia.

In the last 24 hours, Sky Sports Spanish based journalist Graham Hunter and Valencia based newspaper Superdeporte have reported that Valencia have struck a deal with Manchester City to sign Negredo on loan. The deal includes a clause that will see the Spanish side pay £20m for the striker next summer.

On Sunday morning, Calciomercato.it journalist Tancredi Palmeri tweeted that Manchester City had lodged a £31.6m bid for Falcao. AS Monaco would prefer to allow the striker to leave on a permanent basis, but Real Madrid are only currently interested in a loan deal.

The Guardian confirmed Manchester City's interest in the striker on Sunday evening and reported that the club had been offered Falcao for £55m. The English champions were believed to be trying to make the deal happen within the constraints of Uefa's financial fair play sanctions and were be willing to sell Álvaro Negredo, Micah Richards, Matija Nastasić and Scott Sinclair to fund a bid.

However, Louis Van Gaal's believes Robin Van Persie's injury troubles are likely to continue and sees Falcao as an ideal replacement.

The player is expected to fly in to Manchester at around 17.00pm on Monday to finalise the deal.

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Adam  Bailey
Freelance journalist. #MCFC reviews, previews, player ratings, news and gossip. Writer for @VAVEL. Contribute to @FourFourTweet