Pearson rebuffed by Bruce over Hull players

Faked: City fans were not fooled after this image of James
Chester signing for Peterborough in 2009 was re-posted today

Nigel Pearson's advances to sign young Hull City trio James Chester, Cameron Stewart and Liam Rosenior have hit a new snag after Tigers' manager Steve Bruce re-stated his intentions to hold on to his best young talent.

"We've had four or five enquiries I'm told, but no bids," said Bruce, "If there's anyone serious they'll come and knock on my door. The one thing I don't want to do is lose my better players.

"I haven't come to sell my better players, I've come to have a good crack at getting where we want to be. Whether that's this year or next year, we've got to try and get in that big league if we can. You can't do that by selling your best players so we'll be doing our utmost to keep our better players."

Pearson's Leicester City have been heavily linked once again with James Chester following the move of Matt Mills to Bolton Wanderers earlier in the week but Bruce insists he is yet to hear from the Foxes' boss.

"I've not spoken with Nigel and I'd have thought if there's anything at all, he'd call me," Bruce added, "I've seen all the speculation in the papers and on the TV but I've had no contact with Nigel, who's someone I've known for a long time. Any interest would be met with a firm 'no' because they're not for sale."

Meanwhile, Cameron Stewart has himself stated that he has no ambition to leave Humberside in the near future. The Tigers' winger's form dipped in the latter half of the season following the rejection of two bids for the player from Leicester but 21-year-old Chester insists that his head was not turned.

"It was frustrating for me because people don't know me. That's not what I'm about. I never wanted to leave, I never asked to leave and I never asked for Leicester to put in a bid. It was all out of my control. Then it became a matter of me trying too hard or over-thinking things when people were on my back. Really, I should have just focused on my football and not on other people.

"I've heard rumours floating around different websites and newspapers, but I'm only concentrating on Hull City. I've got two years left here and I'm really happy. I've got no intentions of going anywhere else."