Kean insists Chris Samba will stay at Blackburn

Blackburn manager Steve Kean insists Christopher Samba will be at Ewood Park when the transfer window closes despite continuing speculation over the Congo defender's future. Samba, who handed in a transfer request earlier in the week, was left out of the Rovers side which earned a 1-1 draw at Everton on Saturday. The Congolese player has been the subject of two offers from one Premier League club, thought to be QPR, who are managed by former Blackburn boss Mark Hughes, while Tottenham are also interested. But Rovers have rejected QPR's offers and Kean once again insisted after his team's battling point at Goodison Park that Samba is going nowhere during the current transfer window. Blackburn face Newcastle in their next league game on February 1 after the window closes, and Kean expects Samba to feature. Explaining why Samba did not play at Goodison, Kean said: "It's been a tough week because we've had a couple of bids for Chris from one club. "We put out a strong statement and he handed in a transfer request, so all those things put together I thought it was best he was not involved. "This is the last game for us before the window closes. He'll be back in next week and we can move on. "We're trying to keep Chris. If Chris is going to move it's not going to be in this window. "It's not a case where we're trying to get teams bidding against each other to get the figure up. We just want to keep him - simple as that. "He felt he wanted to put in his request. He has done that and it's been refused. Today, you've seen we can put other players in and we've got real competition for places in that position. "We need Chris and I want my best players at the club." Blackburn, rooted to the foot of the table at Christmas, have now lost one in five games to give themselves hope of avoiding relegation. They produced a battling performance at Everton and recovered to secure a point through David Goodwillie after Tim Cahill had ended his 13-month Premier League goal drought by firing Everton ahead. It was a bitter-sweet day for Cahill. The Australian was at fault for Blackburn's late equaliser, while his goal was shrouded in controversy as team-mate Marouane Fellaini clearly handled the ball before Cahill forced the ball over the line. Everton manager David Moyes also claimed that Blackburn's equaliser should have been disallowed for offside. The Merseyside club started the day 11th in the table but dropped to 14th after failing to win for the fourth successive league game. However, Moyes was pleased Cahill ended his goal drought. "Tim has looked more likely to score in recent weeks," he said. "He's looked as if he has been playing better and coming into a little bit of form." On his team's performance, Moyes added: "We just needed a little bit more in every department."