Chelsea manager José Mourinho has dropped the biggest hint yet the club will bid for Radamel Falcao in the summer.
Falcao's £52 million move to Monaco last year has backfired, with the Colombian sidelined with a knee ligament injury and likely to miss the World Cup.
Arguably the best striker in the world a year ago, Falcao, 28, was accused of a lack of ambition for joining Russian billionaire Dmitry Rybolovlev's revolution in the Principality at the peak of his career.
Falcao looks set to miss the summer's World Cup
Mourinho encountered Falcao during his Atlético Madrid days while Real manager, and suggested he is too good to play at the Stade Louis II, which holds just 18,523 and rarely sells out.
"I have a team, but no striker," Mourinho told Canal Football Club. "Falcao does not have a team. A player like him can't play in front of 3,000 people. Monaco is a club to end your career with."
Mourinho also ruled out a reunion with his former Internazionale frontman Zlatan ibrahimović, or a move for the Swede's Paris Saint-Germain teammate Edinson Cavani.
Wayne Rooney's decision to ink a five-year contract with Manchester United has ended Chelsea's pursuit of the striker, an area Mourinho has not been shy in pinpointing as his squad's weakest.
Samuel Eto'o, Fernando Torres and Demba Ba have scored just 18 goals between them this term, with Eden Hazard the Blues's top scorer on 13, followed by Oscar, with nine.