AS Monaco have rubbished reports linking star forward Radamel Falcao with a move away from the club, with the Colombian star hotly tipped to follow James Rodríguez to Real Madrid. 'El Tigre', 28, scored on his comeback from the injury which ruled him out of the World Cup against Arsenal in the Emirates Cup and showed no signs of losing his goalscoring prowess, but Monaco are unwilling to lose both of their biggest stars in the same transfer window.
Following their win over former manager Arsène Wenger's Arsenal side on Sunday, Spanish paper AS has quoted the Ligue Un runners-up's vice-president Vadim Vasyliev as confirming that, “Falcao will be in Monaco for the 2014-15 season”. Manager Leonardo Jardim has also recently gone on record to assure fans that Falcao will be staying at the club, adding, “At this point Falcao is our player and he’s with us 100 per cent and we don’t want to let him go. It’s a pity we lost James but we can count on Falcao staying. Regardless of what people say, he’s our player. He’s in the final stages of his recovery and he’ll be with us this season.” He also went on to describe the striker as "indispensable" and "untransferable".
There had been talk that, should Carlo Ancelotti have gotten his man, he could have been presiding over the most talented front line the world of football had ever seen; with Ronaldo, Bale, Rodríguez and Falcao - not to mention Isco and Benzema on the bench - it would be hard to argue, but this is one mouthwatering proposition that the footballing public may be denied. Real Madrid's failure to land Falcao could also put a spanner in the works of the deal to take Ángel di María to Monaco's title rivals PSG, though they may still try to recoup some of the many millions spent on the Rodríguez deal. PSG's outspoken star man Zlatan Ibrahimović has questioned whether the Argentina midfielder is really needed at the Parc des Princes, querying, “I don’t know if we need Di María. We have a team that in recent months has won many trophies without him.”
It had been suggested that unwanted Madrid goalkeeper Diego López could have been included in a deal for Falcao but coach Jardim does not seem to think it is an area of his squad which requires immediate strengthening: "Danijel Subašić did incredible things against Arsenal so I don’t think goalkeeper is an issue…yes, Diego López is a great goalkeeper, one of the best.” This transfer saga is one which isn't likely to go away, but for Monaco are keeping a firm grip of their most prized asset.