Monaco set to rekindle Rooney bid

LONDON — Super-rich French club Monaco have upped the ante in their pursuit of Manchester United and England captain Wayne Rooney.

Vadim Vasilyev, vice-president of AS Monaco and the closest adviser to the Russian billionaire owner Dmitry Rybolovlev, has given the strongest indication yet that the club still hope to sign Rooney only months after the England captain agreed a five-and-a-half-year, £300,000-a-week (S$613,000) deal at United.

“One year ago, we were discussing one of the top players of the Premier League, a top English player,” Vasilyev said. “But it was on the table. This opportunity finally did not happen, but I think one day that it will come, that it will happen.”

Monaco are understood to have been on the cusp of signing Rooney during last year’s summer transfer window, with the offer of a tax-free wage deal, before the striker ended months of conjecture in February by committing his long-term future to Old Trafford.

Since then, Monaco’s ambitions of becoming a major force in European football have stalled, with their former marquee player Falcao moving on loan to United and Colombian World Cup star James Rodriguez completing a £60 million switch to Real Madrid.

Rybolovlev, reeling from a punitive bill to resolve Monaco’s tax dispute with clubs in mainland France, as well as a divorce costing him £2.7 billion, has ordered a squeeze on spending at the club this season.

But even as attention switches instead towards bringing players up from the club’s famed youth academy, Vasilyev hinted at the possibility of another dramatic spree, potentially with Rooney at its heart, as Monaco attempt to close the power gap in the French game to Qatar-bankrolled Paris St-Germain.

“I wouldn’t really compare Monaco to any other club,” he said. “Our ambition is eventually to win the title of French champions. This is true. I will not give you a time frame, but we would like to do it as soon as possible. We would like to be one of the clubs playing regularly in the Champions League. I think we can play an important role on the European scene.”

Vasilyev also pointedly defended Monaco’s reliance on the services of Jorge Mendes, the representative for both Falcao and Rodriguez, as the Portuguese super-agent comes under increasing scrutiny for alleged involvement in the third-party ownership of players.

Asked whether Mendes was too influential in the sport, he replied: “It is overplayed. Jorge is the No 1. We must acknowledge that the interests of agents and the interests of clubs may not coincide all the time — this is just part of life. But if you want to build a good project, you work with the best. And he happens to be, in my opinion, the best.”

Meanwhile, Monaco centre-back Ricardo Carvalho was confident that the departed Falcao could build on his first goal for United against Everton to become a constant goalscoring menace.

“He’s a striker who smells the goal and is dangerous in the box,” said the 36-year-old, who spent six years at Chelsea. “Always when he has the opportunity to score, he will. He is a great striker and a great professional.” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH