Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood has insisted that the potential sale of the club will not affect matters on the pitch.

Reports emerged earlier this week claiming that current owner Randy Lerner is close to completing a £150m takeover deal with a consortium.

"Every club is for sale but I haven't heard anything, no," Sherwood said in today's press conference. "It is not a concern, I just have to do my job. My job is to prepare the team and keep them in the league this year.

"It was obviously going to be a difficult task. Nobody said it was going to be easy. There will be lots of ups and downs along the way but I'm confident we can do it."

Lerner has owned Villa for the last nine years, but he announced his intentions to sell the club last summer.