Christian Benteke has refused to commit his future to Aston Villa, with his agent indicating he will not be at the club next season.
His representative, Kismet Eris, was caught out in a prank call saying the striker wants to leave this summer.
The 24-year-old scored 13 Premier League goals last season and a further two in the FA Cup. All but three of those goals came after Tim Sherwood replaced Paul Lambert as manager for the final months of the campaign, with the striker going on a run of 12 goals in 11 games to secure the club’s top-flight survival.
Now the Belgium international, who scored in Villa’s FA Cup semifinal victory over Liverpool at Wembley in April, is being tracked by a host of clubs with Sherwood revealing the player has a “substantial” buy-out clause in his contract, reported to be £32.5 million.
Liverpool, desperately in need of reinforcements up front, are rumoured to be at the head of the queue with Arsenal and Manchester United also linked.
Sherwood has called on Benteke to come clean about his future, told Villa to offer him a new contract and urged his top scorer to sign it.
But Benteke has told Sky Sports that his future is in the hands of his agent, and batted away questions.
“It’s about him, he knows what I want and I’ll let him do the job,” Benteke said. “I don’t know, I don’t think about Aston Villa now, I did my season with Villa and now I am focused with the national team.
“It’s important to play. If you want to be in first 11 you have to play in your club.”
The Daily Mail has reported that Eris was caught out by a Villa fan pretending to be a top-flight manager, calling to discuss the player’s future at Villa Park.
The video of the call, which has been uploaded to YouTube, sees Eris say: “There is one thing for sure, he will not sign a new contract. I am waiting on a phone call from [Villa chief executive] Tom Fox, I have to meet him.