Monaco denies Falcao clause

Monaco vice-president Vadim Vasilyev insists that Radamel Falcao does not have a clause in his contract that would allow him to leave at the end of the season.

Falcao, 27, headed the list of signings this summer as Monaco spent €166 million on new players.

But last month the former Atletico Madrid forward was forced to deny a speculation that he was eyeing up a return to spain.

Ahead of a trip to title rivals Paris Saint-Germain on Sunday, Vasilyev again said that there was no truth to talk of the Colombian leaving for Real Madrid.

"There’s no clause in his contract that might allow him to leave after a year," Vasilyev told L’Equipe.

"It wouldn’t make any sense to build a project around a player who could leave us after one season.

"There are always people who have an interest in these rumours… I would just remind you that negotiations between Tottenham and Real Madrid [for the transfer of Gareth Bale] were very difficult."

Monaco were promoted as Ligue 2 champions last season and the Russian-owned club spent heavily to bring in players like Falcao, Joao Moutinho, James Rodriguez and Geoffrey Kondogbia.

"I know him well," Vasilyev told L’Equipe. "He dedicated a jersey to me when I was sick in the spring. But we didn’t discuss a transfer because Cristiano is a Real Madrid player.

"At the time, he was negotiating a new contract and we were after Falcao. We can’t buy Falcao and Cristiano -- you have to remain humble.

"I would like to have Cristiano but we’ve spent a lot of money and we’ll invest less in the future. We can’t continue at that pace and we want to bring through some young players from our training centre, which is one of the best in France."

Vasilyev also denied reports that the club had approached Roberto Mancini, Jose Mourinho or Guus Hiddink this summer with a view to replacing current manager Claudio Ranieri.  

Ranieri, 61, led Monaco to the Ligue 2 title last season but there was speculation that the principality club would seek to bring in a big-name coach for the new season.

The Italian is still in charge, however, and Monaco now lead Ligue 1 with four wins and a draw from their opening five matches.

Vasilyev said that Ranieri’s position was never in doubt, despite rumours that they had made contact with other managers.

"It was the press that said that and it was negative for the team, for Claudio, for us," he said.

"I said in May that Ranieri would remain as our manager and I’ve always confirmed it. I never had any contact with Mancini or anyone else. Of course there were managers who contacted us.

"It was the same thing for [Wayne] Rooney and [Carlos] Tevez, who we never contacted. There are always people, around players or managers, who are going to spread the idea that Monaco would be interested -- that can help in a period of negotiations."