Claudio Ranieri remained in limbo last night, after an amicable but inconclusive meeting with Peter Kenyon, Chelsea's chief executive, left his medium-term future as the club's manager still uncertain.
When the Italian walked out of Stamford Bridge at 2.50pm he had failed in his intention of forcing Kenyon's hand. He had hoped the chief executive would either offer him an enhanced contract or tell him he would depart next month. Instead he left with only an assurance that there would be "further meetings".
"A lot depends on the Champions League," said Phil Smith, who along with his brother Jon acts as Ranieri's agent. "Today's meeting was very amicable but it was not a summit. There will probably be similar weekly meetings for the rest of the season but nothing significant will be decided until the Champions League is over."
If Ranieri could be forgiven for suspecting Chelsea are keeping him sweet as a fall-back option while they explore other possibilities, he may at least have been encouraged by the fact that much of the meeting focused on youth development, an area to which he has understandably not had time to pay a great deal of attention.
The Italian also told Kenyon he would like to see a general manager appointed to deal with administration, but the chief executive opposes the creation of such a role, feeling it would overlap his own, and instead is understood to be looking at hiring Steve McClaren in a coaching capacity.
Middlesbrough's manager impressed Kenyon when they were together at Manchester United and might well have joined Chelsea as Sven-Goran Eriksson's assistant had the Swede not signed a new contract with England. Now, though, the indications are that McClaren would leave Teesside only for a top job.
Meanwhile Walter Samuel, who has been linked with a transfer to Chelsea, has revealed he would leave Roma only for a Premiership club.
The Argentina centre-back is expected to be sold in the summer as Roma cut their debts. Samuel said that going to another Italian club did not interest him and that he was "far more attracted by the idea of playing in England".
Barcelona's president Joan Laporta denied yesterday that Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy was on his shopping list and promised that Ronaldinho and Carles Puyol would stay at Camp Nou for the foreseeable future.
Dennis Wise has escaped a touchline ban and been fined £3,000 and warned as to his future conduct after being found guilty of using abusive and/or insulting words to the referee in Millwall's 2-1 defeat at Sheffield United last month.
Millwall's player-manager had launched a tirade at Frazer Stretton after the game was marred by a mass brawl.
