Monaco coach Claudio Ranieri has confirmed to Spanish Sky Sports that he is interested in signing Radamel Falcao, as Atletico Madrid admitted today that the striker would leave in the summer.

Manchester United and Chelsea were both believed to be front runners for the Colombia international, but Monaco have come in as a possible shock destination for the man who is third to only Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in his goal scoring tally in La Liga.

Reports have since claimed that Falcao has already agreeing a deal to move to the 2004 Champions League finalists, for a fee of around €60 million, and Ranieri believes he could be the star Monaco need to get back to their glory days as they look ahead to promotion back into Ligue 1.

Radamel Falcao
Monaco want to sign Radamel Falcao this summer, despite interest in the striker from Chelsea and Manchester United.

He said: "Who wouldn't want a player who always scores? We hope he can join us. That way we can start building for the future.

"Our objective now is to play in the Champions League. Why would we not be able to make it into Europe again next season?"

United were believed to be in pursuit of Falcao to further build on their fire power, after Robin van Persie proved to be such a fruitful purchase for the side.

Meanwhile, Chelsea are said to be on the lookout for a striker to compete with Fernando Torres. While the Spaniard has had a good season statistically, he hasn't had the impact in the big games to keep the Blues in the fight for the title or put up a fight in the 2012/13 Champions League campaign.

But with Monaco now owned by Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev, the side look set to spend big to compete alongside PSG next season and become a force in Europe again, bringing extra competition for the English clubs as the summer transfer window rolls around once more.

The club have also been linked with a possible move for Roberto Mancini, who was sacked from Manchester City before their final game in the Premier League.

But Ranieri insists he feels secure in his job with the club, who secured promotion from the second division by five points over second-placed FC Nantes.

"I don't think he'll come because he'd be too expensive," he explained.

"Having said that I don't think the problem would be financial because a club like this is willing to pay €60 million for Falcao. Joking aside, I have two years left on my contract. We're building a great team here to win things".

Manchester United FC Lionel Messi