Samba link surfaces for Rovers ace

Big spenders Anzhi Makhachkala are interested in teaming Blackburn Rovers star Steven Nzonzi up with Chris samba next season.

The Dagestan outfit, who base their operations and train in Moscow, paid £9million to sign Samba on Russian transfer deadline day. And they are now chasing his former Rovers teammate, 23, who is expected to move in the summer and could fetch as much as £10million. Newspaper Tvoi Den says Anzhi and Spartak Moscow are battling to take him to the Russian Premier League at the end of the season. N'Zonzi arrived at Ewood Park in 2010 from little-known Amiens and quickly established himself as a first-team regular but his performances this season have been inconsistent. Born in the small town of Colombes, near Paris, he went to the Paris St Germain academy at the age of 11 and has been compared with the legendary French national team player Patrick Vieira. He is under contract with Rovers until 2015 but relegation could force the club's hand if a substantial bid arrives for a player who has also in the past interested Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United.