Ranieri won’t be tempted by January sales fever

CLAUDIO RANIERI has revealed he will stay out of the winter transfer scramble next month because he does not want to risk denting the buoyant team spirit in the Chelsea dressing room.

The Blues boss, whose only summer signing was midfielder Enrique de Lucas on a free transfer from Espanyol, will not be asking chairman Ken Bates for any cash to strengthen their new year title push.

Ranieri, whose side face Southampton in the St Stephen's Day clash at Stamford Bridge, is keen to protect the growing camaraderie fostered during Chelsea's superb first half of the season.

Saturday's 2-0 success against Aston Villa cemented the Londoners' place in the thick of the title race alongside Arsenal and Manchester United. And Ranieri insisted: "I don't want change. I want to believe in these players, as this year has been very different from years ago. So why change now? "This group is fantastic so, in my opinion, why change one man for another who might not link in well?

"You'd lose something then, which would be very important. So I prefer us to be all together and go for it."

Ranieri also indicated no departures from Stamford Bridge were expected, even among squad players such as Winston Bogarde and Albert Ferrer. The boss, who released Slavisa Jokanovic in the summer and sold Sam Dalla Bona to AC Milan for £1m, was asked if fringe players might leave, and responded simply: "At the moment, no."

Blues chief Trevor Birch backed Ranieri on the transfer window and expressed confidence the fans would accept inactivity if a new year title push developed.