Published at 11:11, Tuesday, 13 January 2009

Sam Allardyce has ended any hope of Matt Jansen making a shock return with Blackburn Rovers.

Matt Jansen

Allardyce has told the former Carlisle United star that he has no future with the Premier League strugglers – a move which could alert the Blues.

Jansen has been training at Ewood Park since November in an attempt to resurrect his football career which has been in decline since he suffered life-threatening head injuries in a motorbike crash while on holiday in Italy in 2002.

The 31-year-old striker from Wetheral, near Carlisle, has not played a competitive game since April 2006, when he featured for Bolton against Liverpool.

Former Rovers boss Paul Ince offered him a chance to train with the club on an informal basis to see if Jansen could rediscover his appetite for football after falling out of love with the game after struggling to recapture the form which saw him tipped as a future England star.

But Allardyce, who replaced Ince in the hot-seat last month, has now told Jansen he can’t carry passengers at the club, leaving the striker who nearly went to the 2002 World Cup in Japan and Korea again in limbo.

The Rovers boss confirmed: “Matt is not training with us anymore.”

Jansen was given the chance to do pre-season at his old Brunton Park stamping ground in the summer of 2007 under previous boss Neil McDonald, and was highly impressive in training.

United boss Greg Abbott has stated that the door is still open if Jansen wants to return to the club where he started his career, making 57 appearances and scoring 13 goals, before a £1 million move to Crystal Palace in January 1999 after rejecting Manchester United.

He then joined Blackburn Rovers in a £4.1m transfer and was on the brink of an England place at the 2002 World Cup before suffering serious injuries in a motorcycle accident in Rome.

He later spent time with Coventry City, Bolton Wanderers and trained with New York Red Bulls.

Jansen has been working as a property developer and currency dealer after earlier turning down the chance to play with David Beckham at LA Galaxy.

But he has insisted he would “never say never” on a possible return to Brunton Park.

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