Falcao denies Monaco agreement

MADRID (AFP) –

Atletico Madrid’s Colombian forward Radamel Falcao controls the ball during the Spanish League football match Atletico de Madrid vs Barcelona at the Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid on May 12, 2013. Falcao insists he knows nothing about any supposed pre-contract agreement with French club Monaco, after French and Spanish press reports suggested he was on his way in the summer.

Atletico Madrid striker Radamel Falcao insists he knows nothing about any supposed pre-contract agreement with French club Monaco, after French and Spanish press reports suggested he was on his way to the principality in the summer.

“I know nothing about all this and, over the last few weeks, the only thing I have focused on is Atletico Madrid,” explained the Colombian striker during a press conference ahead of Friday’s Copa del Rey final against Real Madrid.

AS and L’Equipe had both reported last Saturday that Falcao had been approached by Monaco, who recently won promotion back to Ligue 1 and are backed by the financial clout of Russian billionaire Dimitri Rybolovlev.

The French club were said to be ready to pay a 60 million-euro ($77.4m) release clause to sign “El Tigre”.

But Falcao, who has scored 28 goals in La Liga this season, says he has not responded to any interest, from Monaco or elsewhere.

“If you believe what is being reported, I have already signed for half the clubs in Europe: Manchester United, Chelsea, Real Madrid,” he joked.

“Last year, before the (Europa League) final in Bucharest (against Athletic Bilbao), people said I was going to leave and that the club didn’t have the budget to keep me.

“All I can say is that I have a contract with Atletico and everything else is speculation.”

Falcao, whose goal tally has been bettered only by Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo in La Liga this season, is under contract with Atletico until 2016.