O'Neill still hopeful of new faces
Villa finished fifth in the Premier League last season
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By inthenews. |  |
Monday, 27, Jul 2009 05:43
Martin O'Neill thinks it is a case of when and not if Aston Villa make their next move in the transfer market.
The Midlands outfit's only activity this summer saw the arrival of injury-stricken Stewart Downing to counterbalance the departures of former captain Gareth Barry and defender Zat Knight. Villa also lost Martin Laursen to early retirement towards the end of last season and O'Neill is keen to strengthen all areas in a bid to maintain their position in the Premier League's top five.
David Bentley, Jermaine Jenas, Peter Crouch, Sylvain Distin and Fabian Delph have all been linked with a move to Villa Park, while Ashley Young is reportedly being courted by some of the continent's biggest clubs.
With Manchester City offering a more lucrative platform for players to break the monopoly of the top four, O'Neill is finding it tough to sell-up the chances of a club who fell away so spectacularly last season.
"We are obviously going to improve the team," he said. "If we are going to try and improve this season then we need some players in. I will be expecting that to happen.
"I am hopeful we will have players coming into the football club. We are some numbers down but we are looking to put that right.
"I'm not in the habit of letting people go if I didn't think we could do something.
"I would not be getting overly concerned at the moment. We have a number of things we are working on and I'm hoping they will bear fruit in the not-too-distant future."