Real Madrid's Carvalho joins Monaco

MADRID, May 28 - Former Real Madrid defender, Ricardo Carvalho this Tuesday signed a contract to join big-spending French side, AS Monaco.

Carvalho arrives for nothing after the end of the third season of th

e 35-year-old's contract with Real Madrid and he has agreed a one year deal with the option of a second year.

The central defender has also played for Porto and Chelsea and will bring a wealth of experience to the club which has just returned to France's Ligue 1.

"I am very happy to join Monaco and to form a part of this adventure. It is a new challenge for me," said Carvalho on the Monaco website.

Carvalho might not be the only Real Madrid player to end up at Monaco as left back Fabio Coentrao could also be on his way in the coming weeks. Monaco is the property of Russian multi-millionaire, Dmitry Rybolovlev, who has already invested heavily in the club's return to the French top-flight and has already shown he is willing to spend even more in order to turn his side into title challengers next season.

Carvalho is the third new arrival at Monaco at the end of the current season and will join Porto duo Joao Moutinho and James Rodriguez, who arrived for a total fee of 70 million euros ($90 million).

The trio will soon be joined by Atletico Madrid's Colombian striker Radamel Falcao, who is on the verge of signing a four or five-year contract with the club. Falcao is expected to cost Monaco a further 60 million euros as the club, which is coached by the experienced Claudio Ranieri looks to challenge Paris Saint Germain.

Falcao made an emotional goodbye speech to Atletico fans, climbing into the stands of the Vicente Calderon Stadium following last Sunday's league game at home to Mallorca. He has won the Europa League, the European Supercup and the Spanish Cup in his two seasons with Atletico.

Curiously all four of these players, as well as Coentrao are all represented by the agent Jorge Mendes, who also looks after the interests of Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho.