Sherwood sure Benteke will stay

Posted Sunday, May 24, 2015 by Foxsports.com

Tim Sherwood is convinced Christian Benteke wants to stay at Aston Villa, although he has not broached the subject with him.

Speculation continues over the future of the Belgium international, even though his agent recently pledged Benteke's commitment to the club.

After scoring 15 goals this campaign thanks to a late-season surge, the bigger names in the Premier League are again being strongly linked with a move for the powerful striker, but manager Sherwood is more than hopeful he will stay put.

"Christian is only a young man but he's very mature in the way he behaves," Sherwood said. "I think he's handled the situation well.

"I have no reason to believe he wants to seek employment elsewhere. He seems to be very happy here and this morning, at training, he was smiling.

"He knows there are big games coming up in Sunday and the cup final and I think he wants to be at this football club. I'm convinced of that."

"I'd believe him if he told me he wanted to be at this club next season but he hasn't told me because I haven't actually asked him the question."

Sherwood is keen Villa finish their season on a high by beating relegated Burnley, even though he has one eye on the FA Cup final against Arsenal next Saturday.

"We want to go and win," he said. "We owe it to our fans, who have stuck with us under difficult circumstances and been fantastic and helped pull us over the line.

"So we owe it to them to go and put in a performance on Sunday, send them home happy and give them some optimism to want to come back here next season.

"It's a full house, we want to put in a good performance but there'll be no resting of players. We're looking to go out with a win."