JAAP Stam insists sought-after Reading FC star Aaron Tshibola is not for sale.

Championship rivals Norwich City are rumoured to have bid £2 million for the 21-year-old midfielder, while Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic are also interested.

But Royals boss Stam has issued a ‘hands off’ warning after seeking assurances from the club’s Thai owners over Tshibola’s future.

“His future is here with us, I don’t want him to leave and I have spoken to the club,” revealed Stam. “He’s a young player with so much quality. He needs to stay at Reading.

“He's the kind of player we want to keep at the club, you don’t want to sell them. Maybe clubs would be tempted if a certain offer came in but I’ve spoken to the owners and told them I don’t want to sell and that he needs to stay.

“Of course, it’s up to Aaron as well, but you know how football works. There are a lot of agents involved and everybody is looking after their own interests.

“A lot of rumours come from that but for me he is going nowhere, he is staying at the club.”

USA international Danny Williams and Northern Ireland’s Oliver Norwood has also been linked with summer moves away from Reading.

It is believed Hull City are lining up a £1.5m offer for Norwood, while Newcastle United are thought to be keen on Williams.

However, Stam does not want to see any of his current crop of players depart Madejski Stadium following last season’s exodus when six loanees left and Hal Robson-Kanu, Simon Cox and Anton Ferdinand were released.

“Basically I want to keep everybody, I want to look at the quality in the squad,” added Stam.

“I don’t want to sell anybody to be fair. Joey van den Berg has come in so I think we have a quality midfield now. Even if someone gets injured we have quality players to step in.

“If everyone stays, which is what I hope for, we are okay in that area.”

Stam also confirmed the door has not been closed on 25-year-old Paolo Hurtado, who was loaned out to with Vitória de Guimarães in Portugal last season.

The Peruvian winger is due to rejoin Royals later this week, and Stam stated: “I haven’t seen him yet. He’s coming back in the next couple of days then we will have a look at him and see what’s best.

“We have quality players and we still have international players to come back.

“You don't want to lose players of that quality so I have asked the owners not to sell too many players because we need that quality to do well in the league.

“If you sell good players you never know what you can bring back into the team.

“If you change seven or eight players it's a big task to put a team together and perform in the league.

“So I don't want to make too many changes at the start of a season though there is always a possibility that players will leave and maybe that will give us something extra to bring in other players.”

Meanwhile, Stam insisted rumours suggesting Royals had failed with a £100,00 bid for Southend United midfielder Ben Coker are wide of the mark.

“That story is not true, though we are looking at players from England and other countries,” he commented. “The main thing is they have to be the right players.

“But the first country we look at is the UK because they know the Championship.”