Mega-rich monaco join race for falcao
Monaco, on the verge of promotion from the French second division, are ready to pull off a huge transfer coup and land Colombian international striker Radamel Falcao from Atletico Madrid, media reports in Spain and France said on Saturday.
Falcao, who hit a hat-trick earlier in the season as Atletico trounced Chelsea to win the European Super Cup at Monaco’s Stade Louis II, has a release clause of 60 million euros but Monaco are prepared to meet it, according to Spanish sports daily AS and French publication L’Equipe.
Last week, Spanish television station La Sexta reported that Monaco’s mega-rich Russian owner Dimitri Rybolovlev had lunched with the player in Madrid late last month and AS reported on Saturday that the principality club had reached agreement with Falcao on a ten-million euro ($13 million) annual salary.
That would more than double the current salary of the 27-year-old striker, who moved to Atletico from Porto in the summer of 2011 and has also been linked with a move to Chelsea and Real Madrid in recent months.
According to L’Equipe, a clause would be inserted in a putative contract for Falcao at Monaco allowing him to join Madrid from next January because of an ongoing tax dispute with other French clubs.
Monaco coach Claudio Ranieri admitted on Friday that he had heard rumours about Falcao but dismissed them. “Falcao is coming to Monaco? Ah, like Beckham! When he comes I’ll tell you all,” L’Equipe quoted him as saying.
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