Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert says he has never spoken to in-demand striker Christian Benteke about renewing his contract.
The 22-year-old Belgian is on target to become the first Villa player to score 20 league goals in a season since Peter Withe 32 years ago, but despite reported interest from Arsenal and Tottenham, Lambert insists that neither party has pushed for negotiations to begin.
Lambert said: ‘I think the most important thing is the league until the end of the season, I heard somebody say he’s been promised a new contract but I can’t have been a part of those conversations.
‘I speak to him all the time, not about contracts, I just tell him to keep it going really. And he’s never once mentioned anything to me about contracts.’
Benteke has fired 15 league goals this season, and Lambert knows securing survival could be a crucial factor in keeping the former Genk man at Villa Park.
‘He’s got a contract here anyway as it stands, but I think it’s important we stay in this league and do as well as we’ve been doing,’ added Lambert.
‘As I said before I’ve never had one conversation with him regarding contracts or anything like that, he’s not that type of lad.
‘I’m sure come the end of the season we’ll sit down and it’ll be just Chris and a few others.’
No comments:
Post a Comment