Radamel Falcao has 'never heard' of Villa skipper Ron Vlaar

Radamel Falcao today delivered a stunning snub to Villa skipper Ron Vlaar – by claiming he had never heard of him.

The £50m Monaco striker faces Vlaar when Colombia play Holland tomorrow but has dismissed the defender's influence.

Vlaar has helped Villa keep successive clean sheets in the Premier League and played in Holland's 2-2 draw with Japan on Saturday.

But Falcao insisted Vlaar is not on his radar and he will not worry about him when the teams clash in Amsterdam.

"No, I don't know him," he said. "I know Stefan de Vrij (Feyenoord captain) though and we have analysed him and we will do more. It is a good test for us because they are two good teams who both try to play good football. The Netherlands were the World Cup finalists in South Africa and that motivates us."

Colombia beat Belgium 2-0 on Friday with Falcao scoring the opening goal and they have qualified for next year's World Cup.

The 27-year-old is a target for Chelsea with Jose Mourinho watching their win in Brussels with a view to a January bid.

Meanwhile, Karim El Ahmadi reckons Fabian Delph would already be an England regular if he had stayed injury free.

Midfielder Delph has been tipped for a Three Lions call but has so far been overlooked by boss Roy Hodgson.

He suffered a knee ligament injury in 2010 which sidelined him for almost a year and El Ahmadi believes, without that, he would be a key man for England.

He said: "Fab is still young and was unlucky with injuries before and if he didn't have them then maybe he'd be already with the England squad. He has a great future in front of him. He's one of the best players in the team.

"You have a lot of good players in the squad but if I see all the players I've played against in England he can be one of them.

"He is always the first at the club and always the last so his hunger can achieve that. If he keeps his quality it's only a matter of time.

"I'm not the manager and I don't know how it works with the English squad but he has the quality."