Udinese insist they will keep hold of Chilean star Alexis Sanchez at least until the summer.
Italian side rule out January move for highly-rated Chile international
Udinese insist they will keep hold of Chilean star Alexis Sanchez at least until the summer.
Chelsea were lining up a January raid for the £25million-rated forward, while Inter Milan were also thought to be interested.
But Udinese's owner Giampaolo Pozzo is determined not to lose the services of Sanchez and top scorer Antonio Di Natale just yet.
The Bianconeri are currently eighth in Serie A, just four points off a UEFA Champions League place, and Pozzo feels the immediate future of Sanchez, 22, would be best served in Udine.
"We are 'closed for holidays' until the end of the season and nothing will happen," he told
Radio Anch'io Lo Sport.
"Sanchez and Di Natale will stay until June. The players know there's an opportunity for us to do something important and I don't think that anyone wants to leave the club right now.
Young
"I would like Sanchez to stay for at least another year, he's still very young. We hope that the (financial) crisis will enable us to delay the release of winning players."
Di Natale was Serie A's top scorer last season with 28 league goals and he remains top of the Italian scoring charts with 15 so far this term.
The 33-year-old has also been attracting interest but is under contract until 2013 and Pozzo insists the Italy striker, who joined Udinese from Empoli in 2004, is happy to stay put.
"He has repeated that he wants to finish his career here," Pozzo added.
"No-one is imprisoned in Udine - he has remained here because it is a natural choice."
And although coach Francesco Guidolin admitted Sanchez is destined for bigger and better things, he feels he should stay at Udinese a little longer.
"Sanchez deserves to play in a great team but must prove it until the end of the season," he told
RaiDue.
"Almost certainly he will remain with us until June. He was considered an outsider but has improved so much.
"Now I see him more as a playmaker behind the strikers."
