Parker fight hots up

Parker has yet to voice his frustration publicly and Charlton, who do not need to sell, would probably need him to submit a transfer request before agreeing a move.

Chief executive Peter Varney said: "The board unanimously felt that both ?7m and ?7.5m were unacceptable offers for the best young midfield player in the country. It has been an unsettling period both for us and Parker, and brought us unwanted added pressure at a time when the focus should be on the excellent achievements we have made on the field."

Charlton were partly persuaded to reject Chelsea's latest offer by the experience of Joe Cole.

The former West Ham midfielder has made only 30 appearances since moving to Stamford Bridge last summer and half of them have been as a substitute.

He has failed to establish himself as a regular in Claudio Ranieri's squad rotation system even though he cost ?6.6m and Charlton were concerned the same might happen to Parker. As a result, they only considered Chelsea's so-called final bid to be worth £7.5m because the rest was related to appearances.

Roman Abramovich's club offered to pay an additional £500,000 for every 30 games Parker played until the midfielder reached 90 matches.

But Varney added: "The offer of further sums when Scott had made up to 90 appearances is not something we can realistically budget to ever receive.

"Chelsea are one of the teams that rotate their squad and it could take several years, if at all, before such monies become payable. By turning down Chelsea's final offer we can hopefully put this behind us and concentrate on maintaining our position of fourth place in the Premiership."

The Stamford Bridge club have apparently indicated they will not be returning with a better offer but, after making three bids for Parker since last summer, that looks little more than a negotiating ploy.

The midfielder returned to training yesterday after being dropped for the 1-0 win at Everton when the manager considered him too unsettled, but the transfer talk is far from over.