And now we can officially forget about Falcao

We've known that Falcao would be going to Monaco for some time now, but now it's been officially announced by the (possibly) Ligue 1 side:

BREAKING: AS Monaco confirm transfer of Radamel Falcao who joins on a 5-year deal

— AS English (@English_AS) May 31, 2013

That means it's time to chat about it. The most obvious impact, as far as Chelsea are concerned, is the fact that one of Europe's premier strikers is off the market. This is the second time Monaco, who still face a legal challenge to their promotion, have swiped a former Porto player whom Chelsea have been linked to -- midfielder Joao Moutinho signed (along with James Rodriguez) a week ago. They're not playing around in the transfer market, and that's going to make life a little more difficult for the Blues if they want to keep making splashes.

Falcao signing for a tax haven also has major ramifications for Edinson Cavani and Robert Lewandowksi, who suddenly find themselves in a significantly better bargaining position as they look for new clubs. And if you believe the talk that Lewandowski's already signed with Bayern Munich (poor BVB!), that means Cavani's all alone with at least three top-level teams looking to add firepower up top.

If Chelsea, Manchester City and Real Madrid are indeed battling it out to sign Cavani, he's going to be even more stupidly expensive than he would have been with only the Blues pursuing him. All three of those sides can activate his release clause, and presumably the 26-year-old would then go to the club who offers him the most money. The winner's curse is a bit of a pain in the bottom there, especially when you're competing with the likes of Real.

The silver lining is the rumour that Falcao's upcoming spell at Monaco is simply a means of getting him to Real Madrid, circumventing Atletico Madrid's animosity towards their cross-town rivals. It's not that far-fetched considering how silly Falcao going to Monaco is in the first place. If true, that would explain why Cavani's not had any contact with Real despite being an obvious buy for them, and would bring the bidders for the Napoli man's services back to the more manageable duo of Chelsea and Manchester City.

The fact that strikers are going for so much money, however, is a pretty compelling argument for the club to just shrug their shoulders and put their faith in a certain young Belgian international...