Vlaar offered new deal

London - Ron Vlaar has been offered a new contract by Aston Villa, the Birmingham side announced Monday.

Dutch international defender Vlaar's current deal at Villa Park expires at the end of the month, but manager Tim Sherwood has previously made it clear he would like him to stay at the club.

Vlaar himself said following Villa's FA Cup semi-final win over Liverpool in April that Sherwood's arrival as manager had transformed his view of the club's prospects.

Villa were well-beaten, 4-0, by Arsenal in the FA Cup final at Wembley last month but by then they'd achieved their main goal for the season of retaining their Premier League status after a 17th-placed finish.

The 30-year-old Vlaar, who joined from Dutch club Feyenoord in 2012, has made 88 Villa appearances and captained the club before being replaced as skipper by Fabian Delph in the season just completed.

Premier League side Southampton had expressed an interest in signing Vlaar after he impressed during the Netherlands' run to last year's World Cup semi-final, where they lost to Argentina in a penalty shoot-out with Vlaar missing a spot-kick.