Ooijer not for sale, say Blackburn Rovers

10:43am Thursday 17th July 2008

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BLACKBURN Rovers have told Panathinaikos that defender Andre Ooijer is not for sale.

The Lancashire Telegraph understands a person acting on behalf of the Greeks has contacted Rovers about the availability of the Dutch star.

But the club have been told to look elsewhere.

Blackburn chairman John Williams said: “We’ve not received a written bid from Panathinaikos, but I’ve made it clear anyway that Andre is not for sale.

The Greeks, managed by fellow Dutchman Henk ten Cate, who was in the running to succeed Mark Hughes at Ewood Park, have been heavily linked with the 34-year-old as have former club PSV Eindhoven and Dutch giants Ajax and Feyenoord.

Ooijer arrived at Rovers at Ewood in August 2006 and despite a shaky start on his debut against Chelsea, grew into a dependable Premier League player.

But a broken fibula and torn ankle ligaments at the turn of the year at Manchester City saw him miss the rest of the campaign Ooijer failed to command a regular place in Hughes’ side last season and despite penning a new contract until the end of the coming season, the Dutch defender recently admitted he would be open to a move.

He told Dutch magazine Sportweek: “I appreciated my new contract but, a moment later, I was sat on the bench.

“I am not happy about that. I do not wish to continuously sit on the bench.”

But that interview came before Paul Ince joined Rovers, and Ooijer, who made 23 League appearances last season, may feel he now has a clean slate to impress the new manager.

Ooijer is due to meet up with the rest of the Blackburn squad at the training camp in Germany.

He was given extra time off after playing for Holland in the European Championships in Austria and Switzerland.