Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood has admitted that the club would like to keep hold of Ron Vlaar at the end of the season, but have put any contract talks to one side for the time being.

The Netherlands international was widely expected to leave Villa Park in January with a raft of Premier League sides reportedly interested in his signature, although injury issues saw any potential move fail to materialise.

It has been claimed this week that Vlaar, who is out of contract in the summer, has informed the West Midlands outfit that he has no intention of signing a new deal should he be offered one.

However, speaking to reporters ahead of this weekend's meeting against Stoke City, Sherwood said: "I'm not sure what the club have done with that [the negotiations]. Obviously the club want to keep their best players.

"I'm sure the club will endeavour to try and keep Ron. It's not really for now. The focus is picking the right team and Ron focusing on playing and doing the best for the club.

"I was very impressed with him. You need experience. They have experienced themselves getting out of trouble at the end of the season. We need to try and do that this season and then try to look forward. First things first we need to stay in the division."

Villa are currently third from bottom in the Premier League following a poor run of results which saw Paul Lambert axed as boss last week.