Samba: Staying put

Share this article:

Kean: Samba is not leaving

Blackburn Rovers manager Steve Kean has warned interested clubs that defender Chris Samba is going nowhere in the January transfer window.

target='_blank' class='instorylink'>

The towering centre-half recently requested to be made available for transfer, but the struggling outfit rejected his request as they have no desire to allow one of their key players to depart at such a crucial stage of the campaign.

Several Premier League clubs have been linked with the 27-year-old but they will now have to wait until the end of the season.

Kean told PA Sport: “If Chris is going to move, it’s not going to be in this window.

“It wasn’t a case of trying to get teams bidding against each other to get a figure up, we’d just like to keep him, it’s as simple as that.

“You could see we’ve got other lads we can put in, it was a tough decision leaving Grant Hanley out to put Scott Dann in so we’ve got real competition for places in the centre-half position.

“We want Chris to be one of those players competing and putting performances in for us, as he’s done ever since he’s been at the club.”

Samba joined Rovers from German outfit Hertha Berlin for a reported fee of £450,000 in the 2007 January transfer window and has five caps for the Congo national team.

He has since made 184 appearances in all competitions, scoring 18 goals in the process.