Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon has dismissed
renewed speculation linking Dutch winger Arjen Robben with Real
Madrid.
Reports in Friday's newspapers claimed that the Spanish champions
were closing in on the player that president Ramon Calderon has
always coveted.
Calderon made signing Robben one of his election pledges in 2006
and, whilst the Holland international remains at Stamford Bridge,
the Real supremo is known to still be a fan.
At the start of June, Los Merengues made clear their desire to
bring Robben to the Bernabeu, but Kenyon has now moved to quell
talk that the former PSV Eindhoven star could be leaving
London.
"Arjen is very happy, he's just got married and he wants to
demonstrate and prove what a great player he is and still believes
the Premier League is the best opportunity," Kenyon said.
"I'm confident he'll be there next season."
Rumours of Robben's impending exit have been partly fuelled by
suggestions that Chelsea are closing in on a deal for Lyon winger
Florent Malouda.
However, when questioned during a marketing drive in Hong Kong,
Kenyon underlined that prudence was the prevailing philosophy at
Stamford Bridge this summer, and that no big-money arrivals are
anticipated.
"By Chelsea standards it's been very quiet. That's probably the
headline...both in terms of names and in terms of big spending,"
Kenyon added.
"We've had three or four so-called free transfers."