Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish has clarified that striker Darren Bent is not for sale, and will not be leaving the club during the January transfer window.

The England international has been linked with a move to Liverpool over the last couple of days, as The Reds' look for a solution to their goal-scoring problems.

Despite Bent having had an inconsistent campaign thus-far, mainly down to injuries, the Scottish coach has stated that the attacker will be staying at Villa Park.

"Yes, I say that now. He won’t be leaving," McLeish told Mirror Football.

Bent scored the third goal in Villa's 3-1 win over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, and the forward is keen to get back to form for the rest of the season.

“It has been a frustrating time for me with injuries but I am now going in the right direction," Bent stated.

“Long term I don’t think it was anything serious. I probably need to do a bit more work in the gym to get things stronger and just take it from there really.

“Hopefully that’s the last of my injury problems and I can look forward to some more time on the pitch and scoring goals now," he concluded.

By Gareth McKnight

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