Ijeh not JFH for Barca?

Blues master-blaster Hasselbaink was quoted in an English tabloid newspaper as insisting a move to Camp Nou could still be on, after a proposed switch to Catalunya collapsed earlier in the year.

Chelsea have stressed that they have no need to sell during the transfer window and, with the club handily placed in second in the Premiership table, there seems little prospect of the 30-year-old being allowed to leave.

"Luckily, we have a manager who understands a lot of stuff in the media," Hasselbaink told Chelsea TV. "And he knows me very well.

"He said he believed me straight away."

The player's agent Humphrey Nijman also played down the renewed reports suggesting his client will team up with fellow Dutchman Louis van Gaal at troubled Barca.

"He spoke in Holland and an English daily reproduced it without verifying it before," he explained.

"Jimmy is enchanted with Ranieri but, nevertheless, he does dream of being bought by Barcelona."

Meanwhile, Malmo's Hasse Borg has confirmed that Ijeh is being tracked by van Gaal.

"There have been quite a few enquiries during the autumn, and Barcelona has been a name which has been mentioned several times," the sports director told Sportbladet.

"It's agents and people who are representing different clubs who have got in touch."

The Nigerian attacker would come relatively cheaply, although the 25-year-old's representative has revealed that the last contact he had with Barca was back in October.