Petrov, Close But No Cigar?

Martin O’Neill has admitted that Villa have bid for Celtic midfielder Stilian Petrov.

‘We offered £5m before and they turned us down and asked for £7m. We thought we’d offered a fair price. We are going to look at the situation in the next 48 hours. We would love to have him. He’s a superb player.’

O’Neill could now face competition from Portsmouth who are also said to be preparing a bid.

O’Neill continued ‘It is not the biggest squad. We have a lot of very good players at this club and I’m going to supplement them if I can but that might be easier said than done. The takeover bid has been accepted and at some stage it will happen but it might not happen in time. (for the transfer window) It is a genuine concern but I am not in control of that. I would have loved to postpone the start of the season for three weeks or postpone the transfer deadline.’

According to ICbrum, Baros is still a target for Hamburg, Phillips could leave for Sunderland and Mathieu Berson is wanted by Levante.