Manchester United winger Ryan Giggs has pleaded with Old Trafford boss Alex Ferguson not to sell him to Inter Milan.
"I am happy at United and I want to stay at this club, I've always said that," he told the Sunnewspaper today.
"When you are not playing so well, things like this can happen and you get linked to other clubs. If I start talking about that it only adds fuel to the speculation. But I know I want to stay at the club."
Giggs turned in his best performance of the season on Tuesday to score twice as United romped to a 3-0 win over Juventus in Turin to seal a place in the European Cup quarter-finals with two group games to spare.
But the Welsh star's Old Trafford future is in doubt, amid reports that the club are hoping to sell him in a summer swap deal involving Inter's Brazilian striker Adriano.
The 21-year-old Brazilian is part-owned by Inter, who intend to buy the striker outright at the end of the season.
United chief executive Peter Kenyon is also thought to have visited Milan on Monday to discuss a possible deal. Inter president Massimo Moratti has made no secret of his desire to bring Giggs to the San Siro.
Ferguson was understood to be ready to sell Giggs after a lapse in form and stories of dressing-room rifts with the other players.
Sections of the Old Trafford crowd had started to turn against Giggs - not least after his glaring open-goal miss against Arsenal in the FA Cup this month.
Giggs concedes he had dropped well below his usual standards. "I know some fans have not been happy and that's OK because they pay their money to see me perform and I have not been playing as well as I could," he said.
"But I've been working hard and, hopefully, things have turned round now".
PA