Ranieri eyes Falcao swoop

Claudio Ranieri says Monaco are hopeful of securing Radamel Falcao’s signature in the off-season.

The striker has been tipped to leave Atletico Madrid in favour of a switch to the newly crowned Ligue 2 champions in the close season, and Ranieri believes the Colombia forward will be the perfect player to spearhead Monaco’s redevelopment.

“Who wouldn’t want a player who always scores? We hope he can join us. That way we can start building for the future,” he told Sky Sports.

Monaco beat Le Mans 2-1 to secure the Ligue 2 title on Friday, having already won promotion back to Ligue 1, and Ranieri said they want to challenge for top flight honours next term.

“Our objective now is to play in the Champions League. Why would we not be able to make it into Europe again next season?” he told France Football.

“We will now have to build a very strong team, because there are plenty of good opponents in Ligue 1. We have to focus on Ligue 1 first.

“The main thing for now is to build a new team. We have some big plans, but we don’t want to talk about specific transfers. There is a great project going on at Monaco.”

Monaco conclude the 2012/13 campaign with a trip to Tours on Friday.