Aston Villa have rejected a bid from Stoke City for defender James Chester.

According to a report in the Mirror, the Potters have made the bid for the Welsh international following the sale of Xherdan Shaqiri, however, with the bid believed to be only around the £5m mark, Villa have flatly refused the offer.

Chester was one of the key men for Steve Bruce last season as he led his team to the Championship playoff places and he is a player that everyone at the club is keen to keep hold of.

However, Stoke's initial bid may have just been a testing of the water, and with Potters boss Gary Rowett seemingly being armed with hefty funds by his bosses, it would appear this might not be the end of the matter for the Villans.

Stoke are looking to bounce back to the Premier League immediately but are short at centre back, with the likes of Kurt Zouma returning to Chelsea and Marc Muniesa moving away from the club.

Chester was superb alongside John Terry last season for Villa, but with the club needing to sell players to balance the books this summer, it could well be that Stoke continue to up the ante until Villa cave in and are forced to move on their star defender.

Villa and Stoke fans, what do you make of this? How much is Chester worth? Let us know in the comments!