Villa manager Martin O’Neill has vehemently denied the club will allow young striker Nathan Delfouneso to go out on loan.

The England under-19 international was recently linked with a temporary move to Leeds as a sweetener in the deal for Fabian Delph, while Crystal Palace have previously been interested in the striker.

But the manager insists the teenage forward, who starred for his country en route to the European Championship under-19 finals, is part of his first-team plans and will be going nowhere.

O’Neill said: “I don’t know where this has come from. It is nonsense, absolute nonsense. Nathan is not going out on loan.

“I couldn’t be more categoric about that. I didn’t know anything about this until somebody told me the other day. We have games to play and he is going to be part of proceedings.

“It is easy to say this story has originated from Yorkshire, but you shouldn’t have to bat away something that didn’t exist in the first place.”

Birmingham-born Delfouneso, 18, scored three goals in five starts for the claret and blues last season and moved ahead of Marlon Harewood to become the club’s fourth-choice striker.

O’Neill added: “He has a real quality future ahead of him. I think he has the ability, I hope he has the determination to take it in his stride and come through.”