Steve Kean: 'Christopher Samba staying put'

Blackburn Rovers manager Steve Kean has once again insisted that Christopher Samba will not be sold before tonight's deadline.

The centre-back is keen on a move away from Ewood Park, having made his intentions public by submitting a transfer request.

However, Rovers rejected his request and Kean is adamant that Samba is going nowhere.

"We want him to get his head round the fact that he's going to be here," Kean told reporters. "In the last window, and even before that, as soon as the window closed, he got his head down and got on with it.

"His performances were excellent and there's no reason why he can't play like that again.

"It's never nice when someone hands in a transfer request. But it's a two-way thing and we didn't accept his request."

Samba, 27, joined Rovers in 2007.