Nicky Shorey today admitted he is still no closer to knowing if he will be a Villa player next season.

Question marks hang over whether Shorey, who arrived from Reading for £4.5m last summer, has done enough to convince Martin O’Neill he should be part of his plans for the new term after losing the left-back berth to right-back Luke Young for half of the campaign.

He said: “Do I know what the future holds? I haven’t got a clue. Who knows? It is not for me to say. We will have to wait and see what happens.

“It has been a season of ups and downs - not the way I would have wanted it to go. But thatÕs how it goes in football and in life sometimes and you just try to take those experiences on board and make yourself stronger.

“I am a footballer and I just want to play football,” he added.

The England international was recalled to Villa’s first XI for the season’s closing stages after going five months without a Premier League start, and has played some of his best football since arriving in the Midlands in recent weeks.

However, his relationship with O’Neill again came under scrutiny earlier this month when he sulked at being substituted in the defeat at Fulham, appearing to mouth a swear word in the direction of the bench.