Aston Villa have been rocked after Christian Benteke slapped in a transfer demand yesterday.

Villa have confirmed that Benteke has asked to leave the club, but have rejected claims the powerful forward refused to travel on the pre-season trip to Germany.

A club statement read: "In response to reports that Christian Benteke has not travelled to Germany with the club and has made a transfer request, we can confirm that both are accurate.

"For clarity's sake, however, he had already been given extra time off until July 18 and was reminded that there are three years remaining on his contract.

"We consider him to be a Villa player and expect that he will be with us for the 2013-14 season.

"Having received his transfer request, we have also informed him that should we receive an offer within an appropriate timeframe during pre-season which meets our valuation we would act upon it. But he will remain a Villa player should this not happen."