Del Bosque refuses to speculate

Real Madrid coach Vicente del Bosque is remaining tight-lipped about the possibility of ace Brazil striker Mario Jardel joining the Europeans Champions as a replacement for Fernando Morientes.

Rumours circulating in Monaco, where the draw for the first group stage of the Champions League was made on Thursday and where Real play Feyenoord in the European Super Cup on Friday night, suggest Morientes is on his way to Premiership side Tottenham Hotspur.

And with a move for Inter Milan hitman Ronaldo now consigned to the back-burners, it has been speculated that Real are eyeing up Sporting Lisbon striker Jardel to take the Spain international's place.

However Del Bosque was not about to be moved on the matter.

"I have no news about Fernando Morientes having left the club and my only worry is preparing for Friday's game," he said.

"Morientes is with us and as far as I am concerned I am going to pick the players I consider to be the best to face Feyenoord," said Del Bosque, who also refused to discuss Jardel.

"I am not here to talk about rumours, but to speak about the game against Feyenoord. I don't want to seem unfriendly but I would rather talk about tomorrow's game," he told reporters.

The transfer speculation will do little to help Del Bosque's preparations for the Super Cup, one of the few major titles to elude Real.

"It's an important game for us and we will try to break our run of bad luck tomorrow, but I want to highlight Feyenoord are an excellent team even though they have a lower profile than other teams in Europe," said Del Bosque, who was nevertheless optimistic of victory.

"I think we are playing well at the moment - we have got into form and the game has arrived at a good time. We have played teams such as Liverpool, Bayern and Roma, who have given us good tests."