Alex McLeish today dismissed speculation that Villa are actively looking to sell captain Stiliyan Petrov when the transfer window opens.

A national newspaper claimed at the weekend that the Bulgaria midfielder was someone McLeish was looking to ship out in order to further ease the club’s wage bill.

Petrov found the net with a long-range strike – albeit via a deflection off Gary Cahill – as Villa claimed a 2-1 victory over Bolton at the Reebok Stadium.

And McLeish, who is keen to bring in another central midfielder in January, insisted that Villa are not under any pressure to sell Petrov.

“I saw that [report] but we’ve never said anything. I can only assume it’s come from an agent. We’ve never said that, and I’ve never said to Stiliyan we’ll try and get you out in January,” said the Villa boss.

“Sometimes some things happen and fall in your lap, like when Kenny Miller left Hibernian and the board were trying to get more money from Rangers and they went to a certain figure and I said they had to push the button now because that might help get two or three players in to bolster the squad.

“On occasions you have to make a sacrifice but we have no intentions of letting him go in January unless someone comes in with a bid we can’t refuse.

“But I’m sure that’s not going to happen. I said when I came in, the only experienced midfielder we have is ‘Stan’ Petrov

Villa’s man of the match Marc Albrighton scored the other goal for the claret and blues as they registered their first away win of the season.

And the young winger, who was making only his second start of the season, hopes the goal will help him kick on after a difficult period in which he has struggled to break into the starting line-up.

“It has been really frustrating but hopefully I can just push on from here,” he said.