Real Madrid have turned down Chelsea's opening £19.75million offer for Robinho and are holding out for around £30million for the Brazil forward, who feels undervalued because his club have been involved in negotiations to bring in players for his position. Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Chelsea manager, is said to telephone Robinho every day to boost his spirits, according to Wagner Ribeiro, his agent.

“He is getting affection from Scolari,” Ribeiro said. “Robinho is very angry with the way the Madrid bosses are dealing with him.”The agent has said that he has not been able to speak to Real about the player, and criticised the Spanish champions, who have conducted a lengthy pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo, considered signing David Villa and brought in Rafael van der Vaart this summer. “Robinho is fourth,” Ribeiro said.

Decent bets

Blackburn Rovers and Wigan Athletic are tracking Jimmy Bullard after Fulham refused to engage in contract negotiations because the midfield player has two years left on his deal.

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Andrei Arshavin has said that he is frustrated that a fee cannot be agreed for him to move from Zenit St Petersburg to Tottenham Hotspur. The Russian club want more than £20million for the forward, £5million more than Tottenham are willing to offer. “This price tag has frightened everybody off,” Arshavin said. “When Tottenham made their offer I was sceptical at first. But after Juande Ramos [the Tottenham head coach] called me and said that he wanted me because they were selling Robbie Keane, things changed. When a coach shows an interest in you, then that is already half of the success of any move. I like the way Tottenham play, so I agreed in principle to join.”

Gokhan Inler's agent has said that he has held talks with Arsenal about the Udinese midfield player. “It was very positive,” Dino Lamberti said.

Dead certs

Hull City have signed Mark Oxley for £150,000, despite the England Under-18 goalkeeper never playing for the first team at Rotherham United. Hull and West Bromwich Albion have been given permission to speak with Abdoulaye Meïté after agreeing a fee of about £2million with Bolton Wanderers for the defender.

Tottenham have agreed a deal to sign César Sánchez on a season loan from Real Zaragoza. Manchester City have turned down Torino's approach to sign Rolando Bianchi on loan, in favour of a permanent sale. Genoa are also interested in the forward, who is available for transfer after costing £8.8million from Reggina last summer. He moved on loan to Lazio in January.

Stoke City have given a trial to Amdy Faye, who is available for transfer from Charlton Athletic.