Chelsea have denied making an approach to the Dutch Football Association for Holland coach Marco van Basten.
The club’s owner Roman Abramovich has reportedly offered Van Basten the manager’s job at Chelsea, but the Dutch FA claim they have not had any contact from Chelsea.
The speculation cast doubt on the long-term future of current incumbent Aral Grant, who was installed following the shock departure last week of Jose Mourinho.
But a Chelsea statement said: “Chelsea totally refute that the job of manager or first-team coach has been offered to any individual other than Avram Grant.
“No one at Chelsea has been authorised to speak to any individual about the post, either by the board or the owner.
“Any suggestions that any team plans or arrangements have been changed due to representations from the players are totally false.”
When asked whether Chelsea had been in contact regarding Van Basten, Dutch FA spokesperson Anja van Ginhoven said: “No.
“Van Basten will talk to the Dutch FA at the end of the year about a new contract or leaving after Euro 2008.”
The 42-year-old was sitting close to Abramovich at Old Trafford as Chelsea were beaten 2-0 by Manchester United.
But Van Ginhoven added: “It is absolute speculation that resulted from the fact Van Basten was in Manchester last weekend for an appointment with goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar.
“He sat in the stand quite close to Mr Abramovich – that was just a coincidence.
“Both our CEO and Van Basten said they will not talk about contracts now. We will start talking about it at the end of the Euro 2008 qualification campaign.”
