Aston Villa Football Club News

• Nickname:The Villains
• Founded:1874
• Manager:Alex McLeish

• Ground:Villa Park
• Capacity:42,584

O'Neill: Cup is no distraction

14 Jul 2008 - 12:10:21

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Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill insists Saturday's Intertoto Cup trip to Denmark will not distract him from bringing new players to the club.

Villa face Odense BK in a third round first leg tie at the weekend with a place in the UEFA Cup up for grabs, but O'Neill remains focused on bolstering his squad with fresh faces.

The Midlands club have added just Steve Sidwell to their ranks in a £4.5million deal from Chelsea so far this summer, while US international goalkeeper Brad Guzan is close to sealing a switch to Villa Park.

"Obviously you keep your mind on the game, which is so, so important, but that doesn't mean you take your eye off efforts to bring in players," O'Neill told the club's official website.

"Last season we were operating with a small squad and this time around we want to improve it. Improving it with the sort of quality to try and lift us again is particularly difficult - not impossible but difficult.

"We're in the throes of doing that every single day and we've started the ball rolling with Sidwell. Hopefully, with a bit of luck, we've got Brad Guzan coming in.

"But we have a number of players that we'd like to get into the football club and that's what we're progressing on."