Tuesday Mar 18 2008 11:50
FC Porto president Pinto da Costa has claimed that Aston Villa have shown a renewed interest in full-back Jose Bosingwa during the current campaign.
The 25-year-old Portugal international has also been linked with Manchester United in recent months, but Porto insist that they are not looking to sell one of their star players.
Da Costa claimed: "We are not thinking about losing any of our players next season.
"In the past year, Aston Villa revealed themselves to be an interested party, but we did not accept the proposal. Jose is another of the players we intend to keep."
Meanwhile, Villa boss Martin O'Neill has refused to rule out his side qualifying for European football, despite a 2-0 weekend loss at Portsmouth.
He told the Express & Star: "We've got to win the majority of our games and Europe is still very much there for us.
"It's not the end of the road, this might be an act of defiance, but we're capable of winning the majority of our matches and that's what we're trying to do.
"If I'm asked can we still qualify for Europe in a fortnight I might be proved wrong, but I feel there will be more twists and turns."
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