Christian Benteke will be offered a new contract by Aston Villa this summer, the club’s chief executive Tom Fox has confirmed.
The Belgian striker has two years left to run on his current deal and is attracting much interest from rival clubs after enjoying an impressive end to last season.
Liverpool are being tipped to launch a move for the 24-year-old, who has a £32.5million buyout clause in his contract, but the Midlands club will do all they can to keep the powerful hitman.
"There has been a lot of speculation and I'm not going to contribute to it or play any of our transfer strategy out in the press," said Fox, speaking at the Sport Industry Breakfast Club.
"But we will offer Christian Benteke a new deal this summer, of course we will."
Benteke has yet to confirm his intentions publicly, and Fox is hopeful he will follow the lead of Fabian Delph.
The Villa captain was expected to leave on a free transfer this summer before unexpectedly penning a new long-term contract in January.
"If Christian wanted to leave, would we stand in his way? I think to make a blanket statement about a player wanting to leave is very difficult," Fox said.
"Every player has individual aspirations and the relationship they have with the club is different.
"Look at what happened with the re-signing of Fabian Delph, no-one would have thought that was possible or even something he should have done and yet he did it.
"So there isn't a rule that would apply to that. It's about the individual and the relationship he has with the club."
The Belgian striker has two years left to run on his current deal and is attracting much interest from rival clubs after enjoying an impressive end to last season.
Liverpool are being tipped to launch a move for the 24-year-old, who has a £32.5million buyout clause in his contract, but the Midlands club will do all they can to keep the powerful hitman.
"There has been a lot of speculation and I'm not going to contribute to it or play any of our transfer strategy out in the press," said Fox, speaking at the Sport Industry Breakfast Club.
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Benteke has yet to confirm his intentions publicly, and Fox is hopeful he will follow the lead of Fabian Delph.
The Villa captain was expected to leave on a free transfer this summer before unexpectedly penning a new long-term contract in January.
"If Christian wanted to leave, would we stand in his way? I think to make a blanket statement about a player wanting to leave is very difficult," Fox said.
"Every player has individual aspirations and the relationship they have with the club is different.
"Look at what happened with the re-signing of Fabian Delph, no-one would have thought that was possible or even something he should have done and yet he did it.
"So there isn't a rule that would apply to that. It's about the individual and the relationship he has with the club."
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