Inter Milan chief Piero Ausilio has ruled out a move for N'Golo Kante this season because Chelsea are unwilling to listen to offers.
Antonio Conte was keen on a reunion with the Frenchman after the pair won the Premier League together in 2017 but Frank Lampard is determined to hold on to the Frenchman.
The Blues have already rejected an offer which involved Christian Eriksen and Marcelo Brozovic and Ausilio claimed the midfielder is too important to Chelsea for the Blues to consider selling him.
'Kante is an important part of Chelsea, I don't think he will be up for sale,' the director explained to DAZN ahead of Inter's Serie A match with Fiorentina on Saturday.
'We have eight important central midfielders, we will begin and move forward with them.'
Kante has started all of Chelsea's three Premier League games and Chelsea would prefer to sell Jorginho ahead of the World Cup winner.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Ross Barkley are more likely to be departing Stamford Bridge with Aston Villa eyeing up a loan move for the duo. Southampton have also shown an interest in Loftus-Cheek, who has been left out of Chelsea's last three fixtures.
Ausilio also admitted Inter had a meeting with Tottenham over their target Milan Skriniar but said the club were not prepared to let him go with Diego Godin set to depart the club at the end of the season.
'There were talks with the Tottenham management, but we will reiterate that Skriniar is a confirmed player for us,' he added.
'We are not planning to lose him after Godin.'