Steven Gerrard has already told Aston Villa transfer targets what he expects

Steven Gerrard has singled out Matty Cash for setting the standards he expects at Aston Villa. The right-back recently penned an improved new five-year contract amid strong transfer interest from Atletico Madrid.

Cash, 24, has been an ever-present for Villa this season and will be amongst the favourites to be crowned player of the year once the campaign concludes next month. Despite Villa's shortcomings given their current 15th-place league position, Cash has enjoyed a standout year while also helping Poland reach the World Cup in Qatar.

Head coach Gerrard waxed lyrical about Cash's importance and, with it, issued a direct message to those perhaps not showing the same commitment levels as the ex-Forest man.

"He's all in," Gerrard said of Cash. "He's been fantastic to work with. I love his energy, his character, his personality. He brings a lot to the group on a daily basis. In the main, he's been extremely consistent. He's been the one in the team who's had the most-difficult one-vs-one challenges throughout the fixtures we've played and, in the main, he's handled himself extremely well.

"I joked the other week after Wolves that I thought he was still in Poland for the game but, listen, we love working with him. He's very infectious, a good kid and what strikes me about him is he's desperate to improve. He's desperate to get better. He wants to be a good Premier League player. He wants to be a good international player. You can see that in the gym and after training doing extra work; coming up for clips and wanting to get himself as best prepared and in a position to really improve. That's really what I like."

As a player, Gerrard himself made it an "obsession" to get better and better which, as mentioned, is something