Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood does not want to sell the Belgian but will not stand in Christian Benteke's way if a lucrative offer was received. He said: "I haven't heard anything about that, but it's good news that people are talking about Christian again because he's scoring goals and if he's scoring goals for us, we're happy.

"I've no idea what he'd cost, because I don't want to sell him. It would have to be a lot of money for anyone to take him from us.

"He'd be too expensive for a great deal of clubs in the Premier League. But we're not looking to sell our assets and he's certainly one of those.

"If a player doesn't want to play for the club anymore and the club he wants to go to meet the valuation then I think it's always best to let them go."

The former Tottenham boss added: "It would be about the market value of what's out there but I have no intention of selling Christian.

"He's enjoying his football and I saw some positive things said by his agent, saying he had not talked to other clubs or seen any interest from other clubs and that Aston Villa were playing the best football out of any team in the league. I think he was spot on there."