Chelsea don't want Sven

Chelsea insisted today that they have no plans to make Sven-Goran Eriksson their next manager.

Paul Smith, the club's acting chief executive, spoke out following reports that the England coach has been offered an £18million deal to take over at Stamford Bridge next summer.

Eriksson has been repeatedly linked with Chelsea since he was photographed visiting Roman Abramovich's London apartment last summer but Smith is adamant that the club have not even considered a move for the Swede. Eriksson has two years left on his contract with the Football Association and is considering an offer to extend it until 2008.

Smith told Standard Sport: "There's no interest in Eriksson and we've not even had one conversation about him. There's no substance to this story. If there was anything in it, I'd know about it. It's just the same old story. I think it was written to tie in with yesterday's Euro 2004 draw."

Owner Abramovich is delighted with the job that manager Claudio Ranieri is doing at Chelsea, who moved back to the top of the Premiership after yesterday's 1-0 win over Manchester United. The Italian has three and a half years left on his contract, and senior figures at the club expect him to still be the manager next season.

Smith said: "How can you criticise Claudio? We are top of the league and through to the last 16 of the Champions League. It would be very difficult to criticise Claudio even if you wanted to.

"Everyone at the club is very happy with the work he's been doing and we want him in charge at the start of next season. We're going to carry on as we are."

Ranieri spent £111m on new players last summer and Smith confirmed that the Italian was enjoying the challenge of trying to turn Chelsea into one of the most successful clubs in Europe.