Aston Villa want £30 million for wantaway striker Christian Benteke.

Tottenham are expected to throw in a rapid £20million offer for the 22-year-old striker, who stunned Villa by slapping in a transfer request on Monday.

A Villa insider last night insisted to The Sun: "It's pretty straightforward. Benteke has three years left on his contract and therefore the club is in a strong position.

"Randy Lerner will not be bullied into selling. If no one comes up with our valuation of around £30m then Christian is staying.

"He will then have a lot of bridges to build with the manager, his team-mates and the supporters.

"We will also decide the time-frame. If it reaches a point where we feel it is disrupting the club, we will pull the plug and go with what we have.

"Christian is an important player for us - but he's not the only player we have. Our budgets are fine and we don't need to sell anyone.

"We are relaxed and calm about this, we have a low heart-rate about it."