"I've just spent almost half a day with him and the situation is, at this moment, Hugo Viana is staying here," he said.

"We have four-and-a-half months of football to be played and I don't know what's going to happen with injuries.

"We've just lost four strikers and Bowyer, and with Jonathan Woodgate, that's six players we have injured at the moment. If we let Hugo Viana go, that's seven.

"Some time in April we could be in the semi-finals of the Uefa Cup, could be playing Valencia home and away, we have two injuries in midfield and Hugo Viana is playing in Portugal.

"I'm trying to get Hugo to understand that. He's 20 years of age, but he hasn't got an old head on young shoulders. He sees himself and that's all he can see, and we're saying 'It's more than that, Hugo'.

"We will review Hugo's position in a month's time at the end of January, but as far as I'm concerned, Hugo hasn't got a cat in hell's chance of leaving this club before January.

"I'll review it at the end of January and see what the position is.

"The position with Hugo is that I understand it, he'd like to go on loan, and I understand the boy completely.

"It's not a problem for the boy to tell me his problems. I've spent half a day with him today and he's knocked on my door more times than I've knocked on Laurent Robert's door.

"But at the moment, I'm staying firm with keeping all the quality players we have at the club available for what is ahead of us."