Blackburn : no summer "fire sale"

Blackburn's owners Venky's are playing down talk of a summer fire sale following the recent departure of Chris Samba to Anzhi. Rovers director Vineeth Rao claims the club were reluctant to see the big defender leave for Russia despite the attraction of their £12m offer. However, he is adamant that speculation suggesting that more big name stars could be heading for the exit door at the end of the season is wide of the mark. Rao insisted that Premier League is their main target in the immediate future and after that, plans would be formulated to make the team stronger rather than weakener. He told the Lancashire Telegraph: "There are no plans to sell any more key players, why would there be? Our immediate focus is on staying up in the Premier League. "We hope Chris Samba will be the last key departure. There are no plans to sell any more key players because we want to improve the squad. "We want to add to the squad and improve it, not sell the players we have got. We are not planning on selling any more key players. "It was not even our intention to sell Chris Samba. We did not want to sell him. "We wanted him on the pitch because he has been a big player but in the end we had to respect his wishes because he wanted to leave. "We had to respect his wishes. He has played for Blackburn for five years and has been a very important player." Despite his comments, rumours persist that Rovers are trying to find takers in the Asia and America market for Vince Grella and Michel Salgado, where the transfer windows are still open, as they seek to remove the duo from their wage bill.