Former Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert can see Christian Benteke being sold this summer.

Tim Sherwood, who replaced Lambert at Villa Park in February, admitted Villa could struggle to keep hold of the Belgium striker this summer because of a £32.5m clause in his contract.

Lambert said: "I'm surprised by the timing of it, a day before the cup final.

"I fought tooth and nail to keep Christian there from day one because he was playing that well in his first year.

"The second year he had his (Achilles) injury and there were so many teams looking at him, calling for him, and I dug my heels in because I thought it was the best thing for Aston Villa for Christian to stay.

"I always used to say to him, 'give me one more year, one more year' and he was great with it.

"I'm delighted he's turning out to be the player I always thought he could be."