IPSWICH Town owner Marcus Evans will have the final say on whether Aaron Cresswell is sold – if an Aston Villa enquiry develops into a bid.

That’s according to Blues chief executive Simon Clegg, who says he ‘discouraged’ Villa counterpart Paul Faulkner when receiving the phone call about the left-back.

“Their chief executive spoke to me the other day, but I can confirm that we have not received a bid,” said Clegg, in an exclusive interview with the EADT yesterday morning.

“It was a fairly short conversation. I just said ‘we don’t want to sell Aaron, he’s an important player for this club and we think that he’s got huge potential’. They obviously think he has too otherwise they wouldn’t have called.

“I certainly discouraged him, but I do recognise that every player has a price and if they offer us more money than we consider he is worth then it is something we might have to look at.

“We are a long way from that stage at this moment in time though.”

Blues boss Paul Jewell has said he is keen to keep hold of the 22-year-old following his impressive debut season at Portman Road.

However, with Town having paid League One side Tranmere Rovers a tribunal set figure of �240,000 – potentially rising to �520,000 – last summer, they could be tempted by a multi-million pound bid little more than a year later.

“Let’s be very clear,” said Clegg. “There is a tipping point for every player. If I said to fans that someone had offered us 12 million pounds for Aaron Cresswell they would say ‘you’d be crazy not to take it’. If I said we’d take one million pounds most would hound me out of town.

“Therefore, if you accept that, you accept the principle that there comes a tipping point for every player.

“Everyone’s view on where that tipping point is will vary, but actually the only important people in this particular decision making process is the owner, the manager and myself.

“And of course Marcus will have the final say because it’s his club and his money.

“As Paul has already said though, we don’t want to sell our best players and we don’t want to sell Aaron Cresswell.”