The highly-rated 20-year-old broke into the team towards the back end of last season, scoring a spectacular goal in the derby win, but refused to be rushed into signing a new deal and was happy for negotiations to be postponed until the summer. But now the indications are he will commit himself to Villa until the end of the 2008/09 campaign after he told PA Sport: "I'm more than happy here and I've enjoyed my football. I just wanted to concentrate on keeping my place in the team and put the contract on hold until the end of the season.
"There were a few things I read which upset me about being a money grabber. If you play in the Premier League, money comes anyway. It is more important for me to play in the Premier League. I did quite well in some games but I don't want to be a flash in the pan and want to kick on next season. If I can be consistent in performances, than everything else will take care of itself."