Manchester City last night had a £30million bid for England captain John Terry rejected, as Chelsea told them he is not for sale at any price.
Stamford Bridge officials released a statement exclusively to Sportsmail after confirming that a bid had been made in person by City chief executive Garry Cook.
Cook asked to meet Peter Kenyon, the Stamford Bridge chief executive, yesterday to discuss Chelsea's pursuit of talented young striker Daniel Sturridge.
It was something that surprised Chelsea when they had already said they would be happy to let an independent tribunal set the size of the fee for the 19-year-old.
But an even bigger surprise followed when Cook suddenly presented a letter with a formal offer for Terry. Kenyon was understood to be stunned, not least because he had already made it clear to Cook last season that the club captain and the heartbeat of the Chelsea team was not available at any price.
A club statement issued last night said: 'Chelsea Football Club can confirm it has completely rejected an offer from Manchester City for John Terry.
'It was made clear to City, for the second time following another approach last season, that we would not entertain any conversation on the subject. At that time John also reiterated his total commitment to Chelsea. We would like to make clear, and will not do so again, that John is not for sale.'
That Cook offered such a derisory sum further amazed Chelsea. When Bayern Munich are demanding £65m for Franck Ribery and Cristiano Ronaldo has moved to Real Madrid for £80m, and when City are prepared to pay vast sums for players like Robinho and Samuel Eto'o, less than £30million for one of the world's best centre halves seems low.
But City have long had their eye on Terry and Chelsea suspect this amounts to the latest stage in a poker game designed to try to lure exactly the kind of inspirational figure Mark Hughes wants in his team at Eastlands.
When City tabled an offer last season, Terry expressed his loyalty to a club he has served with distinction his entire career.
But the money on offer could yet prove tempting when the richest club in England would be prepared to almost double his current £130,000-aweek wage. Terry is already the highest paid player at Stamford Bridge but City could take him into an elite occupied only by players such as Ronaldo and Kaka at Real Madrid.
City plan to make at least one major impact signing this summer. Not least because they were left so embarrassed over the Kaka debacle when Cook responded to missing out on the Brazilian by launching an astonishing verbal attack on AC Milan. The former Nike executive, relatively new to football at the time, branded the Italian giants 'bottlers'.
Right now Samuel Eto'o is still believed to be within their reach, although they feel they are being used by the striker in his pay dispute with Barcelona. Eto'o, who will cost around £25m, will be available on a free next summer but City have offered a staggering £10m a year, net, in an attempt to lure him to the Barclays Premier League this summer.
A more realistic target is Carlos Tevez, who is expected to join the club early next week - even though others are interested. City will not want to fail in their Tevez bid after missing out on Terry. Cook, whose transfer-market prowess is being monitored by City's backers, is under pressure to close deals.
One observer commented: 'City have a lot of clout in the transfer market because of their backing, but it's important they go about their business in the right manner also.'
Cook and his top team were pleased when Roque Santa Cruz eventually arrived from Blackburn to spearhead the attack, alongside Robinho and - hopefully - Tevez.
Mark Hughes, however, demanded a top centre back. Although City continue to monitor Arsenal's Kolo Toure, Terry was always first choice for Hughes, who sees him as the iron man to lead his team and stabilise a back four that often conceded soft goals last season.
City say they hope to break into the top four this season and moving for a player of Terry's standing would appear to support their claims. They mean business and, although they have failed with this audacious effort, there will be more money flowing from their coffers in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, Chelsea's imminent £18m recruit Yuri Zhirkov has been provided with personal armed bodyguards for the first time in a move seen in Moscow as a sign that his deal is agreed.
Zhirkov, 25, is expected to arrive in London on Monday and has a reputation for mixing freely with journalists and fans.
But now security men prevent access to him. 'All we can do now is watch Zhirkov from a distance,' said Sovetski Sport. 'His huge and extremely intimidating bodyguards who followed him everywhere did not let us ask him any questions about negotiations of his move to Chelsea and the date of his flight to London.'
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