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Zenit boss Villas-Boas rules out move for Falcao

Paul Childs / Reuters

On-loan Chelsea forward Radamel Falcao will not join Zenit St. Petersburg in January as the club has already reached its quota of foreign players, says manager Andre Villas-Boas.

Reports in the British press earlier this week suggested Villas-Boas was mulling over the possibility of signing Falcao on a separate loan deal from AS Monaco.

But the Portuguese has rubbished those claims, adding that rules under the Russian Football Union (RFS) prohibit Zenit from bringing in any more foreigners.

The current limit restricts clubs to a maximum of six non-Russian players on the field at a time. Since Zenit already has eight potential first-team foreigners, a move for Falcao is out of the question.

"We tried to bring him here in the summer at the start of the season, but then the rules changed a week before the season started," Villas-Boas told the club's official website.

"We can't bring him here because of the rules and we don't have space."

Villas-Boas has derided the new system, which he said signalled "the end of the development of Russian football."

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