Inter Milan have denied their striker Christian Vieri is to join Chelsea.
It had been widely reported this morning that the Italy ace was next on the hit-list for the Blues' new billionaire owner Roman Abramovich.
A deal for Vieri in excess of £20 million sterling had been mooted, but Inter's sports director Marco Branca announced: "Vieri is not on the market. We have not received any official offers for Vieri. He will definitely stay at Inter Milan".
Players must have been signed by 11 a.m. today if they were to feature in the Champions League qualifying rounds, with Chelsea due to take on Slovakian outfit Zilina next week.
The Stamford Bridge club yesterday took their summer spending spree to almost £60 million with the capture of two midfielders, Juan Sebastian Veron from Manchester United for £15 million and Joe Cole from West Ham for £6.6 million.
Although the Blues have enjoyed a summer spending spree, it has been argued they still need to snap up a real big-hitter to compete with Manchester United and Arsenal.
Veron, Cole, Damien Duff, Geremi, Wayne Bridge and Glen Johnson are all quality acquisitions, but Chelsea still do not look to have a match-winner to rank alongside Ruud van Nistelrooy or Thierry Henry.