Now the Belgian has made it clear he wants to stay at the Stadio Olimpico

The Blues made several bids, with the Italians rejecting £33m last week

Chelsea's pursuit of Radja Nainggolan appears to be dead in the water after the Roma midfielder insisted he would be remaining in the Italian capital.

Last week the Blues had a third bid of £33million rejected by Roma, who were confident Nainggolan would not push for a move. However Chelsea retained hope of making a deal for the Belgian with Roma apparently willing to listen to further bids.

Now that hope seems to have departed with the 28-year-old, who bowed out of Euro 2016 with Belgium last week, making it clear he wants to remain in Italy.

Chelsea's pursuit of Radja Nainggolan appears to be over after the Belgian said he's staying in Italy

Chelsea made a third bid for Nainggolan of £33million last week but Roma turned it down

'Everything is calm with Sabatini,' Nainggolan told Gazetta dello Sport, with reference to Roma's director of football Walter Sabatini.

'Will I stay at Roma? Yes, I'm going to remain here.'

Over the course of June, Roma grew increasingly confident on keeping hold of their man. Boss Luciano Spalletti said he had received assurances from Nainggolan about his intention to stay at the Stadio Olimpico during Euro 2016.

The midfielder gave assurances to Roma boss Luciano Spalletti that he would be staying last month

RADJA NAINGGOLAN 2015-16 Roma appearances (all comps): 42 (2 as substitute) Minutes played: 3,525 Goals: 6 Assists: 2 Yellow cards:12 Red cards: 1 Advertisement

'I think he stays with us. He is a man of his word and promised,' said Spalletti.

'He seemed enthusiastic about continuing to give us his contribution next season.'

Nainggolan has spent his entire senior career in Italy and moved to Roma from Cagliari in 2014. He had been one of Chelsea's primary targets this summer with rumblings of a move starting from the moment Antonio Conte was announced as the man taking over at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea will now have to look elsewhere for a midfield enforcer and have expressed an interest in Nainggolan's Belgium team-mate Axel Witsel.