Blackburn manager Mark Hughes has reiterated his stance that star midfielder David Bentley will not be leaving the club in the summer.

The England international was linked with a £15million move to Tottenham on Friday, having previously attracted the interest of Liverpool, among others.

And although Hughes cannot prevent the speculation, he has stressed Bentley remains an integral part of the squad he is trying to build at Ewood Park.

Earlier this season Rovers offered the player a new contract to recognise his progress in the last 12 months but, as yet, that remains unsigned.

However, Hughes is confident the 23-year-old will remain with the club.

"The situation was, we offered a new contract to David to reward him for the exceptional season he has had," said Hughes.

"If he makes a decision not to sign it is not a problem as he has three years on his current contract.

"He stays here for the foreseeable future and we will continue to build the squad around the good players we have.

"There has been a suggestion we put a price on our players' values - we would never do that."

Hughes will hope Bentley can inspire his side to victory over relegation-threatened Birmingham on Sunday.

Rovers are currently a point behind Aston Villa - who go to West Ham - in the race for sixth place and a spot in the Intertoto Cup.

UEFA announced on Friday that England would receive an extra European place through the Fair Play League but, ironically, with Blackburn the top flight's worst-ranked team on that front, that looks set to go to Manchester City - three points and two places below them.

Meanwhile, 19th-placed Birmingham realistically have to win to stand a chance of avoiding dropping back into the Championship.

With two clubs from three - Fulham and Reading are the others - fighting relegation on the last day of the season and Manchester United and Chelsea battling it out for the Premier League title, Hughes does not agree with Newcastle counterpart Kevin Keegan that the top flight is boring.

"I think he felt the top four are nailed on to win the Premier League, which in truth they are given the resources they have," added Hughes.

"But that does not stop the rest of us trying to stop that monopoly. If we pack it in that is the time everyone needs to close the door and go home because you have to have ambitions and desires to break the status quo.

"We keep going. We haven't got anything like the resources of the top four or even Newcastle but we will keep trying to get the best out of the players we have and we go very close.

"I think the point that has been made that to make that extra step to have a sustained shot at the top four you have to have a significant amount of money and from our point of view we are not in that position and are unlikely to be for a number of years."

Striker Benni McCarthy has trained fully this week and is set to return to the squad having missed the last two matches with a hamstring injury.

David Dunn (groin) could also get his place back in the squad against his former club while Zurab Khizanishvili should be fit despite a minor groin problem which caused him to miss a day's training.