Aston Villa Football Club News

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

• Ground:Villa Park
• Capacity:42,584

O'Neill eyes more arrivals

18 Jul 2007 - 08:24:12

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Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill hopes to make several more signings before the start of the new season after completing the transfer of West Ham United striker Marlon Harewood.

O'Neill has only made one other major purchase since the end of last season - Harewood's former Hammers team-mate Nigel Reo-Coker - but has other targets in mind.

He told Villa's official website: "We've signed Marlon Harewood but we're already looking to strengthen again, especially in the right-back position.

"It's hard to say just how many more players we need, but certainly we need a few more to bolster the squad.

"If the season were to start tomorrow then we'd probably be all right but we'd not be able to sustain things for too long. If you look at the top teams, their squads are getting larger and larger.

"You need a big squad if you're going to be in the business of rotating players but we're not at that level yet and so we need to make more additions if we're going to compete at the next level.

"To be honest, I'd like to have made all the signings I wanted by now but I always knew the summer was not going to pan out like that. There's still plenty of time left before the transfer window closes though."

Meanwhile, O'Neill is keen to open talks with Olof Mellberg's representatives about a new deal for the Swedish defender, who is out of contract next summer.