West Brom's Pulis rules out Ivanovic move

West Brom manager Tony Pulis has ruled out a move for Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic ahead of Tuesday's transfer deadline.

Ivanovic has been widely linked with Russian side Zenit but reports over the weekend suggested Pulis was eager to hijack that switch and take the Serbia captain to The Hawthorns.

But, asked on Monday about any imminent arrivals, the former Stoke boss categorically stated Ivanovic - who has won the Premier League twice and the FA Cup three times since signing for Chelsea in January 2008 - would not be joining West Brom and neither would Bournemouth striker Callum Wilson.

He said: "Ivanovic? That's a definite no.

"Callum Wilson - I've been told he might be available, I rang the manager up and was told no, so that's not going to happen.

"If we get any loans in maybe, but I can't see us spending any money."

He added: "The main reason you want to bring players in is to raise the standard.

"The ambitious players within the group want that or else they could get complacent.

"We've moved up a level this year and now we're in a pool competing against West Ham and Everton.

"We have to accept it's a very small pond and we have to be careful we don't drop into a position where we're spending a lot of money but not really improving the group."

Pulis has already brought in Jake Livermore from Hull in the January window and was at the Chelsea-Brentford FA Cup tie on Saturday scouting some of the Blues' fringe players.

He said: "I was at Chelsea to look at players Brentford mentioned to me.

"I was also looking at Chelsea's young players, [Nathaniel] Chalobah, [Ruben] Loftus-Cheek, and [Kurt] Zouma.

"We still want to bring players in but they'll probably be on loan."

West Brom visit Middlesbrough on Tuesday with defender Jonny Evans set to miss out due to a calf problem.

"Jonny is still a worry for us and I'm not sure whether he'll be available," said Pulis.

"If I was honest I would say he'll miss the Boro game."