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Ashley Westwood is close to agreeing a new long-term contract at Aston Villa.

The claret and blues want to tie down their top performers and build for the future following the departures of prized assets Fabian Delph and Christian Benteke this summer.

Westwood, a mainstay in the side for the past three seasons has impressed boss Tim Sherwood since his arrival in February, and is expected to be rewarded for his displays.

He will follow the likes of Ciaran Clark and Nathan Baker who have both also penned new deals at the club in recent weeks.

Signed for just £900,000 from Crewe Alexandra in 2012, the 25-year-old has been a consistently-reliable performer and represents excellent value for money.

A hard-working professional who is rarely injured, Westwood has retained his spot in the team under the new regime despite seeing many of his former team-mates depart.

Jordan Veretout and Gana were both also signed this summer but Sherwood said recently:

“If anyone wants to get into his spot in midfield, they’re going to have a very hard time.”

When Villa take on Manchester United this Friday, Westwood will make his 99th appearance for the club, if selected.

He’s already played for almost 8,000 minutes in the Premier League and contract negotiations have been taking place for some time.

The Villa enforcer is not one to get bogged down with the dealings especially as he still has two years remaining on his current contract.

He just simply gets on with his football and leaves the financial talk to his representatives.

After all this is a man who signed for Villa without even knowing how much he would earn!

A new contract will include improve terms, though, and rightly so given his contributions in recent times.

Sherwood is keen to retain the services of his British-born troops and already has Micah Richards, Clark and Baker, Jack Grealish, Scott Sinclair, and Gabby Agbonlahor tied down to lengthy contracts.

A situation may arise where Baker is allowed to depart on loan in order to play regular games.

The Villa boss sees the giant defender as a late developer and believes he could have a key role to play in years to come which is why a new deal was recently agreed.

Both Gary Gardner and Callum Robinson are out of contract at the end of this season but talks will be held over their future.

For Robinson his immediate thoughts are about impressing for Bristol City - the club he has joined until the end of the current campaign.

Gardner’s long-term plans are more pressing, however an ankle injury means he is currently sidelined.