'I met Ronaldo, but a move was impossible'

Vadim Vasilyev confirms the Ligue 1 club could
never have sanctioned a bid for the attacker as
they were negotiating with Atletico Madrid for
Radamel Falcao
Monaco vice-president Vadim Vasilyev has
revealed he met with Cristiano Ronaldo in the
spring - but insists they never attempted to
negotiate a transfer.
Ronaldo was linked with the big-spending Ligue
2 champions earlier this year, as well as Paris
Saint-Germain and former club Manchester
United, before committing his future to Real
Madrid by penning a new record-breaking
contract earlier this week.
Vasilyev has now confirmed he met with the
28-year-old earlier this year but has stressed a
move to Parc des Princes was never on the
cards - especially given the club were
negotiating a €60 million deal for Radamel
Falcao at the time.
"We met in the spring but we didn't talk [about
a move] because he was a Real Madrid player
and at that stage he was already in the stage of
negotiating for a new contract, while we were
working on signing Falcao," Vasilyev told
L'Equipe .
"We had to be realistic, because we could not
have bought Falcao and Cristiano. Of course
we would have loved to have had them both
but we had already spent a lot of money and in
the future we will have to invest less money in
the team. We can't carry on spending and
spending - we're going to spend less money
and focus on our academy, which is one of the
best in France."
Vasilyev also denied that Falcao has a clause in
his contract which would allow him to leave
the club to join Real Madrid.
"There is no clause that allows him to leave
after the first year. It wouldn't make any sense
to build a project around a player and then let
him leave after the first season," he said.