Blackburn will not consider selling Samba this month

Blackburn Rovers will not consider offers for Christopher Samba for the remainder of the winter transfer window.

The Sunday Mirror says last week, the Ewood Park ­hierarchy decided they would not sell their ­powerful centre-back to QPR at any price. Rangers were the only club to table a formal offer for the 27-year-old Congo international.

But the Lancastrians realised ­selling their defensive kingpin to a rival in the Premier League relegation battle made absolutely no sense.

The £7million Rangers were ­offering would be dwarfed by the ­ignominy if Rovers are relegated in May and QPR survive.

That stance did not prevent Rangers returning with a third approach on Friday.

Rangers were sharply told that they should not bother returning with any further calls. Samba will not be sold to them – or anybody else.

A Rover insider said: “There was a meeting last week in which the ­various options were looked at. We all agree that the best hope of Blackburn staying in the Premier League is with Chris Samba on our staff. Anything else can potentially damage us – ­especially if we let him go to QPR.

“Last weekend, we had a big win against Fulham to climb out of the bottom three for the first time since September.

“That put QPR into the relegation zone. Helping them boost their squad with Mark Hughes in charge would be crazy.”