'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.