Sevilla boss Jorge Sampaoli admits any coach would love to have Cesc Fabregas at his disposal but insists he is not thinking about trying to bring the Chelsea playmaker back to Spain.

Fabregas has played only sporadically under new Blues manager Antonio Conte this season and has been linked with a possible move to Europa League holders Sevilla in January.

However, Sampaoli, who has made an impressive start since taking charge of the Andalusian side in the summer, has played down that speculation and says the 29-year-old former Barcelona and Arsenal midfielder is not a target.

Sampaoli told the Spanish media: “I know he’s an important player, but I’m not thinking about him.

“He’s very intelligent and it’s clear he’s a player any coach would love to have. But it hasn’t crossed my mind that he could be here.

“We’re linked with players everyday. We rate the squad that we have highly and I’m not thinking about any more than that.”

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.