Ashley Young has become the latest star to turn down Newcastle after telling Steven Gerrard he wants to stay at Aston Villa this month.
Versatile veteran Young only rejoined Villa last summer on a one-year deal and is a free agent this July.
It has alerted Premier League strugglers Newcastle and Watford, who are now under new boss Roy Hodgson.
But new Villa manager Gerrard is a huge admirer of Young’s versatility and professionalism.
He doesn’t want to lose the former England international who he treats as Villa’s de facto club captain.
Young, 36, has made 13 appearances in his second spell with the club, including six since Gerrard took charge.
His prospects of filling in at left-back have faded following the £25million arrival of Lucas Digne this month from Everton.
But Gerrard, whose first team skipper is Tyrone Mings, still values Young highly and can use him on the right or higher up the pitch.
The former Manchester United ace has been made aware of interest from Newcastle but the Geordies have cooled their interest after Young opted to stay.
Watford could also try to prise him away as Young earned 11 of his 39 caps for England under Hodgson.
But Young rejected the chance to rejoin local boyhood club Watford in the summer when he chose to return to Villa instead.
After his appointment at Aston Villa, Gerrard spoke enthusiastically about Young’s leadership skills.
“I know Ashley extremely well and he’s been absolutely outstanding since we walked through the door. Not just on the training pitch but his leadership and standard-setting,” said Gerrard.
“We see players like him as an outer-layer of the staff, if you like, who really help us when we need to lean on him.
“The big thing about Ash is he can play right-back, left-back, he can play as an eight, a 10 or wide.
“That’s what good players allow you to do as a manager, allow you to play in different ways.”
Young was an unused sub on the bench in Villa’s last two matches after missing three games with a toe injury.
Gerrard has already added Philippe Coutinho, Lucas Digne, Robin Olsen and young defender Kerr Smith this month.
Now he is also chasing Juventus midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur for £16m to replace the injured Marvelous Nakamba.
He has also suggested Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz, who only has 18 months left on his contract, could earn a new deal once the window is shut.
The Brazil international has made 86 Premier League appearances since joining Villa from Manchester City for £15million in 2019 and has remained a regular under Gerrard, starting the last eight matches.
Gerrard said: “Dougie has done OK for us. We’ve been happy with his training level and the performances he has given.
“We believe there’s room for him to improve. He’s doing us a job as a No.6 at the moment. We know that he prefers to play a bit more advanced but he’s helped us out an awful lot on the back of Nakamba’s injury.
“We rate the player extremely high and we’re hoping from now until the end of the season, he can really perform at his best and help the team moving forward.
“No, we haven’t opened contract talks yet. In this period and this window, it has been about trying to strengthen the current squad, make additions and also find destinations on loan for some of our young players.”
