Wolves and Albion have been alerted to Craig Gardner’s desire to leave Sunderland after brother Gary revealed he is pining for a return to the Midlands.

The Villa youngster speaks to his elder sibling daily and admitted Gardner senior, who moved to the Stadium of Light from relegated Birmingham for £6m last summer, is itching to come back to the region.

Wolves boss Mick McCarthy is a keen admirer of the Black Cats midfielder and he is also on the radar of Albion head coach Roy Hodgson although Gardner junior would prefer it if he made a return to Villa.

“We still speak every day and we’re really close. He came back over last weekend having scored a great goal himself,” said the 19-year-old Villa academy graduate.

“I would love for him to come back to the Midlands with Aston Villa and play alongside him but who knows?

“There are six brothers altogether and we’re a close family. We all see each other almost every day. I didn’t think Craig realised how hard it would be to pull away from that.

“I think he does find it hard, but he is the type of lad to get his head down and just keep fighting. I am sure he would want to come back to the Midlands but he is a Sunderland player at the moment and I’d imagine the fans would want to keep him there.”

Both Wolves and Albion are unlikely to make a move for the midfielder during this transfer window with Sunderland boss Martin O’Neill reluctant to lose the player who has hit form recently.

Gardner junior impressed on his full Villa debut against Wolves last weekend and credits part of his rise to prominence with the first team to the influence of his brother.

“Craig has been a massive help to me being an older brother who has come through the Villa ranks. I used to watch him every single game – youth team, reserves and then into the first team,” he added.

“He has been a role model to me. I look up to him a lot and without him I don’t think I’d be where I am. Craig didn’t get as many chances at Villa as he wanted to.

“But he’s proved that he can score goals from midfield which is what I like to do as well.”