31-05-07

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has dismissed reports that he will cut his spending on new players as "nonsense".

The Russian gave a rare interview to Ekho Moskvy radio station in which he denied media reports that he would give manager Jose Mourinho a tiny transfer budget this summer after spending £250m over the last four years.

"This is absolute nonsense," said Abramovich. "Everything will remain the same. My relationship with Chelsea has not changed and I wouldn't want to change anything."

Those comments are a little different to those he made in December in his only British interview with The Observer.

Then he said: "Our strategy is to bring up our own players through the academy, which we have invested a lot in, and hope it gives results. We will be spending less in the transfer market in future years."

With an open chequebook Chelsea may well target Argentine forward Carlos Tevez rather than cut-price options like Blackburn's Benni McCarthy.