Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert will sit down with Christian Benteke and other players next week to discuss new deals. Benteke's 19-goal contribution has seen him linked with some of Europe's biggest teams while the likes of Matthew Lowton, Ashley Westwood, Brad Guzan and Andreas Weimann have emerged from relative obscurity to become key men.

Benteke's future has dominated the agenda recently and Lambert is ready to sit down and sort things out.

"Who has he been linked with now?" the Scot said. "I always knew it would happen. Christian and a few other lads are in my thinking."

Lambert quipped: "I don't know how much he's on, I leave the finances to other people. No, I know everything that's going on and exactly what's happening, everybody's finances.

"Christian is one of a few who have been brilliant for us, collectively as a team and individuals they've been great. We're coming to the end of the season and yes, we'll sit them down and try to get things done.

"Everyone one of the players have helped us stay up, it's not just one player. Every one of the lads contributed something and they're the ones that have done it, we got ourselves over the line."