Villa have rejected bids of £12m and £15m from the Reds for Downing and McLeish wants the England international to remain at the Midlands club.McLeish says he overcame failing to secure a move to Manchester United as a player and would expect the same response from Downing if he is still at Villa next season.He said: "I've spoken to Stewart, I've told him I don't want to sell him."There's an obvious distraction there for him but he's been a credit to himself and applied himself in the right way and worked his socks off in training. I don't see a problem professionally."Sir Alex Ferguson wanted to sign me for Manchester United when I was at Aberdeen and that wasn't possible in the end."That was a big disappointment but I got my head down and worked and I don't doubt Stewart has the character to get through this if he stays at the club."It's part of your growing up as a footballer."Villa will demand £19-20m if it becomes apparent they cannot retain Downing, who has two years remaining of his current contractThe winger was an ever-present for Villa in the Barclays Premier League in 2010/11, scoring seven goals and providing vital attacking thrust.With Asley Young departing for Manchester United, Downing would be even more important to Villa who are desperate to hang onto the England international.Meanwhile, McLeish is optimistic of signing a new keeper to replace Brad Friedel in the near future with Shay Given expected to complete a £3.5m move from Manchester City.He said: "We certainly need a keeper and we are making progress. We would like it to happen a bit quicker but we are moving forward."Follow Aston Villa in the run up to the Barclays Asia Trophy in Hong Kong this July on the official tournament pagewww.facebook.com/BarclaysAsiaTrophy.
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