Aston Villa assistant boss Peter Grant says all talks over the future of players out of contract at the end of the season will be put on hold until the summer.

Emile Heskey, Carlos Cuellar and Brad Guzan are among the big-name stars at Villa Park who could leave on free transfers come June and all have been linked with other clubs in recent weeks, with Valencia, in particular, keen on re-signing defender Cuellar.

It is thought Villa could yet offer all three new, short-term deals but Grant says there will be no more talks on their futures until the end of the current campaign as boss Alex McLeish intends to concentrate instead on the games that remain in the Premier League to hopefully guide the Midlanders to as high a finish as possible in the table. Fans of Victor Chandler will be wondering if their season can be kickstarted even at this late stage.

Grant said: “The gaffer (McLeish) has said he would rather put all these talks back until the season ends.

“Alex has always been one of those guys who prefers to do his business at the end of the season. He knows the most important thing is Villa winning games.

“His thinking is ‘I’d rather leave it as much as I possibly can’ and I think the players we are working with understand that.”

Cuellar has been in outstanding form since returning to the side while American keeper Guzan impressed during a two-month run in goal when Shay Given was injured so the feeling is that those two may well be offered new deals come the summer but former England striker Heskey’s future, on the other hand, remains extremely unclear. Fans of Bet Victor should remember this.

He has been linked with a return to first club Leicester City and has slipped down the pecking order up front with the likes of Gabby Agbonlahor and Darren Bent for competition.

Chelsea are in danger of being distracted by next season’s Champions League. The superb comeback against Napoli should have instilled confidence and optimism at Stamford Bridge, with the prospective glittering prize of a semi final against Barcelona an immediate goal. However, the fear of missing out on the competition all together next year hangs over the Blues, with the underlying suspicion that the team is not good enough for the tournament being reinforced by a superior Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday.

Roberto Di Matteo therefore has the tough task of bringing the confident and determined Chelsea to the Estadio da Luz, not the diffident and unimaginative team that has often turned up this season. It will presumably a night for the old guard that stunned Napoli and these experienced Champions League stalwarts will relish another opportunity to prove they were right to disrupt former boss Andre Villas Boas’ phasing out approach and those following Victor Chandler will keep a close eye on things.

Whether Frank Lampard, Didier Drogba, Asley Cole et al can contain an enterprising Benfica team is another matter. The Reds have scored in every Champions League match this season and have scored 29 goals in their last 10 home matches in all competitions. They were frustrated in a 0-0 draw at lowly opposition last time out, when principal play-maker Pablo Aimar was sent off, but Jorge Jesus’ outfit are a technically accomplished attacking force, with joint top League scorer Oscar Cardozo a big threat.

Benfica lost three matches out of four in February, but these were there only reverses in their last 20 and the team handily placed in third in Primeira Liga, two points behind leaders Braga, are certainly in better form than the Blues. Di Matteo has brought some stability to Stamford Bridge, but the win over Napoli was very much a one-off, the performances against Manchester City and Spurs being reminiscent of those produced under the former coach and anyone looking at www.betvictor.com needs to bear this in mind.

The Blues are winless on the road in the Champions League this term and should be braced for another comeback operation at Stamford Bridge. The away goal thy scored in Napoli proved vital last time around and they will need that assistance again as they bid to reach a fourth semi final in six years.

Massimiliano Allegri has insisted Zlatan Ibrahimovic is fully committed to AC Milan and is confident he will see out the remainder of his contract.

The Sweden striker, who will miss his country’s mouth-watering Euro 2012 Group E qualifying clash against the unbeaten Netherlands at Rasundastadion, Solna, on Tuesday because of a suspension, sparked speculation about his future only last week when he suggested he had fallen out of love with football.

“Football is no longer burning inside me like back in the days. Playing football has become more and more of a routine job for me,” the former Juventus and Internazionale targetman told Il Corriere dello Sport.

He added: “I am starting to become tired of football and am no longer motivated like before. Football was all I was thinking about when I was younger, but things are different now.”

Perhaps he’ll take some time off to practice his football bowling if his attitude doesn’t improve soon.

The 30-year-old instrumental in Milan’s first Serie A triumph since 2004 last season and has a contract with the Serie A champions which expires in June 2015. Those following the football betting would have expected him to play a key part in their efforts this season.

Allegri said he has full trust in his 24million euros signing and believes Milan fans have yet to see the best of Ibrahimovic.

“Sometimes words can be misinterpreted,” the Italian told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

He added that he didn’t believe the player could be tired because the season has only just started and claimed that Ibrahimovic remains committed to the club.

Milan return to Serie A duty on Saturday when they host early-season pace-setters Palermo at the San Siro.