MANCHESTER United star striker Radamel Falcao's great-grandfather was a Yorkshireman, his father has revealed.

The Colombian international is proud of his family's English roots, his father - also called Radamel - told the Daily Mail.

He said his grandfather, accountant George King, left the small village of Burn, near Selby, in 1932 to start a new life in South America.

After his first wife died in childbirth, Mr King married a Colombian woman, Juliana, and they had five children - one of whom is Falcao's grandmother, Denis.

Mr Falcao said: "I'm proud of my English blood."

He said: "My grandfather was English and also a sportsman."

Mr Falcao said he even tried to get a British passport for his son based on this link, but was unsuccessful.

He said: "He was probably about 13 so I went down to the embassy thinking that a British passport would help him with a move to Europe. Unfortunately it got rejected."

Falcao's grandmother is in her 80s and still lives in the place where the player was born.

She told the paper her father, Mr King, was a "calm, well-educated man who spoke slowly and was respected".

But she said he came to a tragic end when he was murdered in 1960.