Thomas Lemar is not for sale in January, Monaco's vice-president has insisted.
Arsenal and Liverpool made late bids for the France midfielder in August – and now Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Barcelona have entered the race for the €100m-rated player (£88m).
Ligue 1 winners Monaco sold €357m worth of players last summer including Bernardo Silva, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Kylian Mbappe.
But the Monte Carlo-based club refused the late offers for Lemar. And despite being knocked out of the Champions League, vice-president Vadim Vasilyev said Lemar and Fabinho will not be sold next month with Monaco second in the French league.
“The sales of important players is not on the agenda. We have never spoken (to Lemar or his entourage) about the possibility of a January departure.
Monaco have recruited former Chelsea technical director Michael Emanelo to handle transfer business. Vasilyev explained: “I have known him for four years. Since the start, I had asked him to come here. He knows perfectly the football, he knows how to handle pros, stars.
"His investment in the Chelsea academy convinced me. Of course, there are not many academy players in the Chelsea first team but that is not the policy of the club.
"Michael won the Youth League at Chelsea (2015 and 2016). He is passionate about developing youngsters.”