Steve Kean has reinstated that Chris Samba will not be leaving Blackburn Rovers during the January transfer window.

The giant central defender recently handed in a transfer request, and reports have linked the player with a move away from Ewood Park, however Kean is adamant the player is not for sale.

A high amount of Premier League clubs have announced their interest in Samba’s services, meanwhile Kean decided to leave the player out of the squad for Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Everton.

However, the Rovers manager plans to bring back Samba for the club’s clash against Newcastle on February 1st, the day after the transfer window closes.

He added: “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.”