Saturday 13 August 2016 22:33, UK
Sheffield Wednesday manager Carlos Carvalhal insisted striker Fernando Forestieri would be going nowhere after refusing to play in the Sky Bet Championship clash at Norwich, which ended in a hard-fought goalless draw.
Derby County made a bid believed to be in the region of £7m for the forward earlier this week but it is thought that Newcastle United may also be interested in signing the playmaker.
The 26-year-old Italian frontman, who has played in the top divisions in Italy and Spain, was nowhere to be seen as the Owls gave as good as they got against one of the favourites for promotion to come away with a well-deserved point.
Carvalhal revealed afterwards that Forestieri had told him he wasn't available but made it clear that the want-away star, who scored 15 Championship goals last season and the winner in a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa on the opening day of this campaign, would not be sold.
Speaking about the striker's decision not to feature against Norwich, Carvalhal said: "He came up to me before that game and said he wanted a chat. He told me he didn't want to play against Villa but we talked it through and he had a change of mind and ended up scoring our winner.
"We then trained with Fernando as usual, preparing for the Norwich game, and then he spoke to me again and said he didn't want to play. This time he didn't change his mind and we had to do without him.
"It is obviously very disappointing and now we will open up the usual process when something like this happens.
"But it is not a problem for me because Fernando is under contract at this club and the chairman has said he will not be selling anyone.
"He is our player and will not be sold and if this happens again it will be the same situation.
"As I said, it is not a problem because I have plenty of players who want to play and we will now turn our attention to the next game."
Carvalhal was delighted with his side's performance at Carrow Road and the result they came away with.
"We have played two very strong sides in our first two games and come away with four points and two clean sheets which is very pleasing," he added.
"In the second half today we had chances to win the game but I am not disappointed - a draw here is a very good result for us."
Meanwhile, Norwich manager Alex Neil admitted his side fell well below the standards set in the 4-1 win at Blackburn on the opening day.
He said: "We didn't play well today - I know that, the players know that and now it's a case of moving on to the next one and preparing for that.
"We didn't retain possession well enough and when we did have the ball we didn't move it quickly enough to cause them problems. It was a disappointing performance and I can understand why the fans were frustrated.
"Some of them weren't happy when I took Cameron Jerome off and brought on Youssouf Mulumbu but we were struggling in midfield in the second half and that was a decision I made to address that.
"What I can say is that everyone knows we are looking for a new striker and that process is ongoing. Once there is something to say everyone will know about it."
