Monaco Talisman Radamel Falcao to Admit to Spanish Tax Fraud and Pay Colossal £6m Fine

Colombian footballer Radamel Falcao, currently of Monaco, will admit to tax fraud allegations from Spain, according to reports in Spanish paper El Mundo.

Falcao, who played for Atletico Madrid between 2011 and 2013, will plead guilty to tax fraud and pay a fine of £6m in order to avoid a trial.

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Falcao becomes the latest of a number of high profile footballers to be caught up in tax fraud allegations from Spain, after Messi and Neymar were charged, while Cristiano Ronaldo was also taken to court.

In 2016 Barcelona's Lionel Messi and his father were found guilty of tax fraud worth around £3.6m over Messi's income earned from image rights. He was fined £1.8m and has been sentenced to 15 months in prison. 

Whereas Ronaldo spent 90 minutes in court being questioned by judge Mónica Ferrer Gómez in July, over allegations that from 2011 to 2014 he defrauded the Spanish treasury of £13m in taxes.

In contrast, Falcao has been accused of not properly declaring around £5m earned in image rights between 2012 and 2014, similar to the case of Neymar who had a similar issue with Nike image rights earnings.

The ex-Manchester United and Chelsea striker will apparently plead guilty to the charge, taking sole responsibility, according to AS who had the guilty plea confirmed by a source from his legal team.

The source also claimed that Falcao already paid around £7.2m to the Spanish authorities in July, so the new agreement will result in around £1.2m being returned to the player.

The Spanish prosecutor's office have yet to confirm the reports, however if the player can get away with just a fine that will be good for Monaco who rely so heavily on the Colombian forward for goals.