Striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic was no longer on the market after returning to training with Italian champions Inter Milan on Friday, said club president Massimo Moratti.
Inter had stated they were willing to sell the Sweden international, last season's Serie A top scorer, who was linked to Barcelona, Real Madrid and Manchester United after saying he needed a fresh challenge.
But no one was willing to meet an asking price of about 70 million euros ($98 million) which, according to Moratti, means he will now be staying put.
"Zlatan Ibrahimovic is absolutely off the market," Moratti told Sky television on Saturday.
He added that Chelsea center back Ricardo Carvalho and his Portugal midfield compatriot Deco were unlikely to join Inter after talks broke down over the price tag.
"These targets are more and more difficult to obtain because they are players that are very useful only at the right cost," he said when asked about the pair. "Otherwise, they risk being bad buys."
Moratti also said there will be no excuse for failure in next season's Champions League after coach Jose Mourinho played down Inter's chances.
Mourinho said on Friday he was not Harry Potter and could not perform miracles, complaining that Inter's inability to offload players had limited funds for the transfer market.
"We can win the Champions League, I don't want alibis," Moratti said. "Miracles aren't needed, like it wasn't a miracle winning the Italian championship last year.
"I don't think it will be difficult or miraculous to do better than last season in the Champions League."
Inter were eliminated from the competition by Manchester United in the first knockout round last term.
Moratti also suggested Inter had failed in a bid to persuade former Juventus winger Pavel Nedved to come out of retirement.
"I hope he's made the right decision," he said. "I think he would have been a useful player because of his character and professionalism, which would have enabled him to perform well for another year."
(Reuters via China Daily July 13, 2009)
