Madrid, Oct 15 (IANS) Real Madrid president Florentino Perez said Tuesday that he believes Monaco striker Radamel Falcao would like to play for his club.
Should that be true, it would be a slap in the face for Real Madrid’s local rivals, Atletico Madrid, for whom Falcao spent two successful seasons before moving to France for around 60 million euros during the summer, reports Xinhua.
Speaking on the TV program, ‘Punto Pelota,’ which has always been favourable to the Real Madrid president, Perez said he had been told that Falaco “would like to play for Real Madrid.”
Although this appears to be the first move in a typical Real Madrid negotiation to sign a player for another club, Perez added the club, which spent over 170 million euros on signings, including Gareth Bale, this summer, would not be making any new purchases when the transfer window re-opens in January.
That means the club will be sticking with out of form Karim Benzema and Perez made an appeal to the club’s fans, who have booed and whistled the Frenchman in recent games.
“We receive offers for Benzema every year because he is a great player. I know our fans are demanding, but sometimes you have to control the whistles at our own players as it can weaken us,” he said.
He also denied stories in the press that recent arrival Bale would need an operation on a back injury, saying that the stories were totally “false.”
Perez also spoke about the wage structure at the club, explaining that Cristiano Ronaldo was the best paid player at Real Madrid, followed by the “captains, Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and then Bale.”
With Casillas currently second choice for coach Carlo Ancelotti, that has opened a debate around the goalkeeper, but Perez stressed the captain had accepted the coach’s decision.
“He is the one who has taken it best. He is training really hard and we are all happy with him. He has taken the position that a good professional should adopt, which is to work hard,” said the Real Madrid president, who was also asked whether or not Ramos would sign a new deal, even though his current contract continues until 2017.
“I am very fond of Ramos, I made a big effort to bring him here and I will make a big effort to see him retire here. We have not had any offers for him because people know we will not sell and we will look at a new contract at the opportune moment,” he concluded.